Instruments
Three cameras, four kinds of image
Each camera answers a different question. CTX shows the setting, HiRISE the detail, THEMIS the light and the heat.
- THEMIS visibleThermal Emission Imaging System, visible cameraDaylight images in visible light. Good for landforms such as craters, channels and dunes at a few tens of meters per pixel.
- THEMIS infraredThermal Emission Imaging System, infrared cameraSurface temperature, by day and by night. Rock and dust heat and cool at different rates, so night images show where bedrock and loose dust are.
- HiRISEHigh Resolution Imaging Science ExperimentThe sharpest images of Mars from orbit, about a quarter meter per pixel. Boulders, rover tracks and layered rock.
- CTXContext CameraWide grayscale strips at about 6 m per pixel. CTX has imaged nearly all of Mars, so it is the best way to see the setting around a HiRISE image.