A Monster Dust Devil Stalks the Martian Landscape | NASA MRO

A Monster Dust Devil Stalks the Martian Landscape | NASA MRO

A dust devil the size of a terrestrial tornado towers above the Martian surface in this late springtime afternoon image of Amazonis Planitia. Dust devils are whirlwinds that pick up the light colored dust on the surface as they move around in odd patterns. The lines visible on the dunes are the dark sand left behind when the surface layer of dust has been removed. The dust devil still images were captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument and Context Camera (CTX). 

Malin Space Science Systems built the Mars Color Imager (MARCI), Context Camera (CTX) systems for MRO.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. 

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Duration: 52 seconds

Release Date: April 4, 2012

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