Conquering New Frontiers

You’ll need anaglyphic specs to view these – the sort with Red=Left Eye and Cyan/Blue=Right Eye.

These stereographic photographs were shot by some pretty smart robots, placed upon that mysterious planet by our friends at NASA, whom we have to thank for the pics.

The images of the planet’s surface might not look like much, but if you consider that you’re effectively ‘walking’ on the surface of a planet whose distance varies from about 56 to 400 million km (35 to 250 million miles) from planet Earth, then a bit of excitement would be in order!

I’ve saved the Hebes Chasma image till last. Unlike the other images, which are shot from a standing perspective, looking forward-and-out over the landscape, this final dramatic shot is a Bird’s Eye View, looking directly down into this gaping wound on the planet’s surface . If you consider that its deepest point is 8km from the planet’s surface (that’s 5 miles, for our friends in the UK & U.S.), that’s quite breathtaking…

► The 3-D spex that came with the Spy Kids 3-D DVD or The Adventures of Shark-Boy & Lava Girl DVD are ideal for viewing these anaglyphs. Please note that the spex that came with the recently-released 3-D DVD of Journey to the Centre of the Earth won’t work for these images, unfortunately.

► Please note: If you right-click each image and then click on “Open in New Tab” (or New Window), you’ll see that image in its full size.

Mars: Twin Peaks