See pic: Colourful Nili Fossae region of Mars

Photo Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

New Delhi: The US space agency NASA has released a beautiful image of the Nili Fossae region of Mars.

Located on the northwest rim of Isidis impact basin, Nili Fossae is one of the most colorful regions of the red planet.

The colors over many regions of Mars are homogenized by the dust and regolith, but here the bedrock is very well exposed, except where there are sand dunes. The rocks also have diverse compositions.

Nili Fossae region is ancient and has had a complicated geologic history, leading to interesting structures like layered bedrock, as well as other compositions.

The breathtaking image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on February 5, 2016, at 14:54 local Mars time.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Source: NASA