NASA shares image of 'marvellous' wind-sculpted sea of blue dunes on Mars surface

The US space agency NASA took to its official Instagram handle and shared a stunning image of the sea of dunes on Mars which has been sculpted by the wind into long striations and is surrounding Mars' northern polar cap. According to the caption, it covers an area as big as Texas. The uploaded image is a false-colour image, where areas with cooler temperatures are recorded in blue tints and warmer features are shown in yellow and orange.  The image has now gone viral on the internet with netizens all across social media sharing it. 

Sea of dunes on Mars' surface 

According to NASA, the image covers an area that is 19 miles in width. The image is one of those taken during the period from December 2002 to November 2004 using the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. It is a part of a special set of images marking the 20th anniversary of Odyssey, which is the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. The location which has been shown on Mars is 80.3 degrees north latitude, 172.1 degrees east longitude. Let’s have a look.

Since uploaded, the image has managed to gather over 755K likes. Stunned by the image, netizens took over the comment section. One Instagram user wrote, "As marvelous as Mars is!!!". Another person wrote, "I LOVE YOU NASA!!!". Netizens can be seen leaving heart and lovestruck emojis in the comment section. Appreciating nature, one Instagram user wrote, "Nature is the best artist". Let's have a look what the netizens commented. 

Earth from circular glass window 

Earlier, NASA shared images of Earth from a circular glass window, captured by the International Space Station (ISS). In the post, NASA has mentioned that the picture has been taken from the window of the docked Crew Dragon Resilience. They further wrote that Mike and his three fellow crew members have been at the International Space Station since November 2020. The Crew Dragon spacecraft has been named Resilience by the astronauts to highlight the hard work of the teams and their families involved in the mission. 

(Image Credits: Instagram/NASA)