Britt Jones
A ‘winter wonderland’ has been shown 140 million miles from Earth and it’s amazing.
Take a peek at this and say what you think it is and most importantly, where you think it is - you’re likely going to be wrong.
While it looks like it could be a blizzard on Earth, it’s actually out in space on an unlikely planet.
It’s out on the Australe Scopuli region, a place where you’re probably never going to be able to visit in your lifetime.
The pictures were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express orbiter in June 2022.
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It was then captured a second time by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera in September of the same year - with the image having being generated from a digital terrain model.
Amazingly, it’s on Mars near its south pole and just before the summer solstice, when it would have been between highs of 21C and -107C that winter.
ESA said on Thursday (18 December): "Here, swirls of carbon dioxide ice and dust layers wrap around the scene, turning the Red Planet white.
"The contrasting light and dark layers are particularly striking in the exposed faces of hills and valleys. They trace out the distinctive seasonal polar layered deposits characteristic of this region, formed as layers of ice freeze with varying amounts of dust trapped within.
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"One can almost imagine the soft crunch of crisp snow underfoot, and a landscape bathed in a calming yellowy-orange hue as the Sun shines through ice- and dust-laden clouds."
The space agency also said it looks similar to the ski resorts we have on Earth as they also have ‘a mixture of smooth, steep slopes and tight bends’ that astronauts might one day have to navigate, adding: "Or perhaps you’d prefer a sleigh ride, but either way dress warm, because it’s cold outside: -125°C.”
It doesn’t look so appealing to venture out into now, does it?
The ESA added on their website that it shows a 'beautiful perspective view down an icy valley on Mars, reminiscent of a terrestrial ski slope complete with tracks made in the snow'.
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While it’s a bit odd to think about Mars having snow as it’s typically known as the Red Planet because of its red dusty surface, it also has its seasons like us too.
NASA aptly describes it as ‘dry, rocky and bitterly cold’, but Serina Diniega, a student who studies planetary surfaces at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California told MetroUK that ‘Springtime on Earth has lots of trickling as water ice gradually melts. But on Mars, everything happens with a bang.’
According to ESA, the seasons are similar to our own, as the website states: “Similarly to Earth, Mars has four distinct seasons.
"However, each season lasts about twice as long because the Martian year is almost twice that of Earth.”
So, it’s probably best not to visit it at all as it doesn’t sound great either way for us to survive on.