First glimpse of Olympus Mons 15 Oct 2007

Mars Express 07-288 17.01.15 VMC Img No 1.png

This image from 2007, DoY 288 (15 Oct), was the first VMC image of the largest volcano in the solar system – Olympus Mons. It is the large shadow in the overexposed region to the left of the disc. Olympus Mons is a volcano of unreal proportions – covering an area the size of Germany, it is 27 km from top to bottom (3 times Mount Everest) and is ringed by cliffs 6 km high. The volcano is in fact so large that if you stood on the surface of the planet you would not be able to see the whole volcano as the planet would curve away. When this image was taken, the spacecraft was over the North Pole (it is in shadow at the top of the image).

Exposure time: 14ms