Great pictures of Mars

OK so it's just more pictures of Mars. But they are beautiful.
Here is a link to the page with the article and the small versions of the pictures.

You can go there and click on the small pictures to enlarge, or here are links directly to the big, high quality photos:

Big one

Big two

Big three
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the Ophir Chasma, a northern part of the Valles Marineris canyon. Valles Marineris, is a huge canyon system around 4000 kilometers (2400 miles) long, up to 240 kilometers wide (144 miles) and up to 6.5 kilometers deep (3.8 miles).

They are some of the best picures I've seen not taken by one of the rovers on the ground. I would post the small pictures here, but I don't know how to post a small picture from a page without posting the whole page.

Nice pics. I have a question. How do you get huge canyons like that without water? I mean it definately looks like errosion canyons to me. Could the wind of a very thin atmosphere do something like that? Well, I guess that was 2 questions lol.

There is a little bit of speculation in the article:

Although the region has been mapped in detail during several missions, many secrets of the geological history of Valles Marineris still remain a mystery.

Its connected 'chasma' or valleys may have formed from a combination of erosion and tectonic activity. The floor of the canyon shows morphological evidence of volcanic, fluvial or even glacial activity.

It sounds like they don't really know. Water may very well have been involved. What we see today is the end result of millions of years.

Those are some cool pics.

Don't forget sand. The air is thin, but not so thin that huge dust storms don't arise. I'd imagine erosion by sand blasting to be pretty harsh.

that doesnt look like a red planet, it looks more orange...

Mars's colour comes from ferric oxide, the same flaky ruddy brown stuff that falls off your car every winter.

Nice pics, those are some of the best pics I have seen of Mars surface. Good find

I'm not doubting you, or anything, but those pics look too good to be true! They look, like, Computer Generated or something. It's like I'm looking at a movie...

I really like them, and I want to believe they're real, but my mind doesn't want to accept it.

If I remember correctly, those pictures, and others like it, are produced using a combinatioin of digital photography and terrain mapping radar. That's what gives the pics a 3d look. Same technology is used on earth for 3d terrain maps. So yes, they are real photos, but they are combined with other info to produce the surreal look.

Very nice me thinks.

Aye, beatiful pictures!! I would have to say water and wind has a lot to do with the shaping of the surface. Mars does have violent storms within the atmosphere. These are cool to look at, and thanks for sharing them.