Great Zoom into Don Juan Pond, Antarctica (Treatment #2 South)

  • Released Thursday, April 22, 2004
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Antarctica is the coldest and most remote continent on Earth. It is also home to one of the most Mars-like places that scientists can study without actually traveling to the fourth planet.

In this sequence we plunge from space down to a remarkably detailed view of a unique part of the Dry Valleys. By studying this place, researchers think they might gain insight into how life on Mars might either survive now or have developed in the past. This place is called the Don Juan Pond, and it's one of the saltiest, coldest bodies of water on Earth. Treatment #2 uses an IKONOS inset that's enhanced to show detail.

This portion of the visualization is intended to follow animation 2874, 'Great Zoom into Don Juan Pond, Antarctica (treatment #2)' and moves in close to circumnavigate a portion of the lower edge of the valley. Textured, folded gully formations appear in the rocky surface. Then the camera slides down the valley slope and stops above the actual pond of sub-freezing water at the base.

Up close view of the Dry Valleys in Antarctica

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0422earthmars.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, April 22, 2004.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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