Regular VMC contributor Mike Malaska has submitted another outstanding image edit for the Mars Webcam blog, shown above. His work is based on an image of the North Pole of Mars from a VMC observation on the 30th September. The polar cap of the planet can just be seen in the middle of this image, with low sunlight glinting off the patches of snow and ice surrounding it. As Earth heads into Northern hemisphere autumn, Mars is also in Northern autumn at the moment and this view captures beautifully the impression of low sunlight in the Northern parts of Mars, with ice and snow signalling the coming winter.

Mike wrote the following to us about his work on this image:

“The main reason I initially got excited about this image was (1) North Pole of Mars and (2) taken at apoapsis (maximum height above Mars, about 10,000 km) of the Mars Express orbit. I was hoping for several pictures with very little change that could be used to make a ‘super-resolution’ image. Unfortunately, there was a 1-pixel-per-image rotation counter-clockwise (in this orientation) of the surface that messed up my plans.

This image was created by making an average of several images: Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16, then Gaussian blurring this by 1 pixel to make a smooth color background. Next, Image No. 12 was used as a luminosity layer. It was also used as a HiPass layer to enhance subtle details. Finally it was blended with some of the original Image No. 12. Contrast enhancement and rotation (to put the North Pole at the top) and cropping gave the final image.”

As always, excellent work Mike — and thank you for the submission and for showing us the beauty of Mars.

We’d love to see what other visitors can make of VMC images, too — just check out the Help us with VMC link at right to get started! — Thomas