Syrtis Major - Point Perspective
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Mosaic of the Syrtis Major hemisphere of Mars projected into a point 
perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a
spacecraft. The viewer's distance is 2,000 kilometers above the surface
of the planet. This mosaic is composed of about 100 red and violet
filter Viking Orbiter images. The images were acquired in 1980 during 
early northern summer on Mars. The center of this image is near latitude
-1.0, longitude 306. 

For GIF formatted image files, the color variations have been enhanced
by a factor of two, and the large-scale brightness variations (mostly
due to sun-angle variations) have been normalized by large-scale
filtering.

The large bright colored area, located in the upper left area of the 
image is known as Arabia. The dark area to the right of Arabia, called 
Syrtis Major Planus, is a low-relief volcanic shield of probable
basaltic composition. Bright white areas to the south, including the
Hellas impact basin at extreme lower right, are covered by carbon
dioxide frost. Regions to the west and south of Syrtis Major are heavily
cratered and relatively old. The dark feature coming around the western
horizon is known as Sinus Sabaeus.

Image Processing by Jody Swann/Tammy Becker/Alfred McEwen, using the
PICS (Planetary Image Cartography System) image processing system
developed at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.