Science As Art: The Earth, From Mars

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a gifted photographer. Below, see a photograph made on February 19, showing at least four avalanches (or debris falls) at the Martian North Pole.  The camera aboard the orbiting satellite is called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiement—otherwise cutely known as HiRISE. (Scientist/Artists back here on Earth add colors to the images to make them more media friendly.) While the avalanche images are amazing, more breathtaking in my opinion is the shot that the HiRISE camera made of Earth and the Moon last October 3 (above). I don’t think I’ve ever seen our planet in this perspective. I want a big print!—David Schonauer