飛越火星北極
Flying over the North Pole of Mars
發表日期：2026-03-03
若能飛越火星北極，你會看到什麼？歐洲航天局 2019 年"火星快車"任務拍攝的影像被編纂成這段特色影片，呈現了這樣的旅程。首先映入眼簾的是橙黃色的地表景觀——細土中的鏽蝕鐵元素染就這般色澤，裸露岩層使部分割槽域顯得更暗。不久北極冰蓋便進入視野，因反射的冰凍水體而呈現純白。 環繞極冠的是北極盆地——這片層狀窪地覆蓋著塵沙。影片畫面攝於火星北半球春季，此時二氧化碳冰正在消融，露出極冠下方的水冰層。火星快車號持續探測火星地表，追尋這顆紅色星球遠古氣候與生命潛能的線索。
原文：If you could fly over the North Pole of Mars, what would you see? Images from ESA’s Mars Express mission in 2019 were compiled into the featured video which shows just such a trip. First you see below you a landscape tinted orange by rusted iron in the fine soil, with some land appearing darker due to exposed rock. Soon the northern polar cap comes into view, mostly white because of its reflective frozen water. Surrounding the polar cap is the North Polar Basin, a layered depression covered with dust and sand. The frames in the featured video were captured during northern Martian Spring when the carbon-dioxide ice is evaporating, leaving the underlying water-ice in the cap. Mars Express continues to study the Martian surface and look for clues about the Red Planet's ancient climate and potential for life.
※ 本文由萌芽機器人自動轉貼自每日一天文圖（Astronomy Picture of the Day，APOD），原文為英文，正體中文是透過 DeepL 翻譯及 OpenCC 進行自動處理，內容僅供參考，若有任何錯誤之處還請見諒！
關於每日一天文圖：每日一天文圖網站是美國國家航空暨太空總署與密西根理工大學提供的服務，網站每天提供一張影像或圖片，並由天文學家撰寫扼要說明其特別之處。