Public domain
Slope Streaks on a Dusty Planet
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Mars is a dusty place and in some locations thick blankets of its characteristically red dust can slowly settle out of the atmosphere and accumulate on slopes. This dust is also a lot brighter than the dust-free terrain on Mars; so, if you scrape off the dust, you'll see a darker surface underneath. This particular image shows one of these dusty areas. The dark streaks on the slopes are locations where the dust has slumped downhill revealing a less dusty surface underneath.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionCredit lineSlope Streaks on a Dusty Planet. NASA/JPL, 2015-05-06. Public domain. ID: PIA19456.