Photo: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The martian southern hemisphere was nearly two months into its spring season when this newly-released picture was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera on September 25, 1999.

The scene covers a vast, frost-coated plain south of the martian antarctic circle. The icy terrain in the image has an almost pastel-like character, owing to the mixture of reddish dust both on, in, and under the white frost. The frost -- mostly frozen water at this time of year -- is leftover from winter, which ended August 2, 1999. One martian year is about 687 Earth days long, thus each of the planet's four seasons are nearly twice as long as seasons on Earth.

The largest crater in the upper left is Lau Crater, named for the Danish astronomer, Hans E. Lau (1879-1918). The dark spot near the center of the image has no name, and its origin is unknown. The picture covers an area about 1,020 km (634 mi) across by approximately 1,240 km (771 mi) down. The center is located near 76 deg S, 97 deg W, and north is toward the upper right. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. This is a color composite of M07-04748 (red) and M07-04749 (blue) wide angle MOC images.

Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.