Mars image competition - winner

Thanks to everybody who entered for the chance to choose a location on Mars to be photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The winner was Sky At Night viewer Jon Green and he chose a narrow band near the bottom of the canyon Hebes Chasma because he thought it looked like it had interesting patterns.

On the 12 June 2014 at 9.29pm (GMT) the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passed above the canyon Hebes Chasma near the equator on Mars. As it did so HiRise - the spacecraft’s most powerful camera - opened its shutter to capture the image.

The top image is what was sent back and shows the surface of Mars in exquisite detail, capturing just over a square kilometre of this enormous canyon.

Hebes Chasma is estimated to be over 300km long by 130km wide and almost 8km deep. Jon’s image shows it has steep sides, which appear to have been created by erosion processes. Rock material from the hill slopes has slid down into the gullies creating dramatic streaks.

The striking blue colour is the result of the HiRise camera’s ability to capture light beyond the visible spectrum, so it is also seeing infrared and ultraviolet light. To human eyes it would appear closer to the red hue we are more familiar with.

Follow these links to the University of Arizona’s HiRise website to find out about a landslide in Jon’s image, and to view hi-res images of Mars.

• A revealing landslide in Hebes Chasma

• HiView image viewing application (free download)