Ringclimber

Images and Maps

These are the images of Ringclimber, collected in one place for your examination. These images are based on photos from NASA. You will notice that some of the photos show a regular pattern of dots - these are registration patterns which NASA uses to determine the alignment of the photos and the size of features.

Some photos can be seen at larger sizes. Click on any photo to see its larger counterpart.

	Mars seen from a distance. The Tharsis plateau and Arsia Mons are to the left.
	An overview of the Tharsis plateau showing the various volcanic features including Arsia Mons.
	The climbing area on the flanks of Arsia Mons, a Martian volcano. Arsia Mons is about 320km (190mi) across. The summit opening (a collapsed magma chamber known as a "caldera") is about 120 km (72mi) across. The volcano is about 24 km (14.5 mi, 76,000 feet) high. The cliffs in the climbing area have never been measured, but are at least several km high.
	This shows a closeup of the Arsia Mons climbing area, and landmarks on the route to the caldera. You can see the mesa near the original base camp (which Sharon solos to obtain pictures of the basecamp area), and the various major walls.
	The Martian surface is littered with blocks of volcanic material, scattered by meteor impacts.
	An asteroid in the Belt, much like Pat's home or those visited by Anne and Pat during Anne's visit to the Belt. (This is asteroid 951 Gaspra, imaged by the Galileo space probe). This asterioid is 19 x 12 x 11 kilometers (12 x 7.5 x 7 miles). The north pole is located at upper left.
	This image shows the major Rings of Saturn as photographed by the NASA Voyager space probe. This image shows the Rings from below. You can see a braid (a slight thickening) in the streamer of the F Ring. The D Ring (not shown) extends from the inner edge of the C Ring to (possibly) the atmosphere of Saturn. The distance across the visible part of the Rings is shown to be 73,600km (45,732 mi). You can see that the Rings have an intricate structure of subrings.
	This image shows the major gaps in the Rings. You will notice that the named gaps are not completely empty of material, including an irregular ringlet in the Encke Gap. Most of these gaps are accounted for by gravitational resonance (i.e. tidal effects) from the moons of Saturn. This image also shows the "spokes", an electromagnetic phenomenon which levitates clouds of particles above the Ring surface, possibly associated with major electrical discharges, triggered by the passage of meteors through the Rings.
	This image gives a closeup of the optically densest (and probably dustiest) ring, the B Ring. It shows the distance across the B Ring as 25,300km (15,720mi). Spokes are also visible in this photo.
	This image shows a moonlet in the Rings of Saturn - 1980S3, one of the co-orbitals just outside the F ring. You can see how it has a shadow of the Rings cast across it. This moonlet is similar to the A ring shepherd moonlet which passes Sharon and the team on their journey, except that it is much larger.
	Here you can see an image of one of Saturn's moons - Mimas. The crater Herschel and its central peak are the home of Liam M'Butu's Foundation for the Rings, and are a center of commercial operations in the neighborhood of Saturn. Mimas is about 400km (240mi) in diameter, and Herschel is about 130km (78mi) in diameter (about the size of the Arsia Mons caldera).

Content, Layout, and Images Copyright © 1999 by Mark Cashman except where indicated (NASA photos)