Mars Webcam: images acquired 18 November now available
A series of well-illuminated images of the Red Planet acquired today by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Mars Express from an altitude of 6379 km to 8284 km above the surface. These images were published online less than 4 hours after acquisition at Mars.
The 45-image set was acquired 18 November 2009 during Mars Express orbit No. 7537, between 07:30-08:07 UTC (08:30-09:07 CET).
The images were transmitted shortly afterwards to Earth, and were received between 10:29-10:38 UTC (11:29-11:38 CET) after a one-way travel time of 8 minutes, 41 seconds.
They were automatically posted onto the Mars Webcam dedicated website by 11:23 UTC (12:23 CET) - less than 4 hours after acquisition.
This set shows Mars in varying illumination conditions. Clouds and some surface features can be seen.
About the Mars Webcam
The 'Mars Webcam' is not a scientific instrument, but it does provide fantastic images of Mars - including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth.
The 'Mars Webcam' provides a visual connection to what we do here on ESA's operations teams every day of the year - it's a chance for us to share our passion for space!
VMC images are just simple photos gathered by one ordinary camera - but it's a camera mounted on a spacecraft orbiting one of the solar system's most exciting planets, millions of km from home!
