View source for MGS Oblique Views

===The View Through The Porthole===

[[Image:Oblique_Mars_MGS_R0500192_DJ_Barney.jpg|thumb|550 px|An MGS Oblique view of Olympus Mons using the Malin MOC instrument <ref>http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r03_r09/images/R05/R0500192.html worldwind://goto/world=Mars&lat=20.27000&lon=233.71000&alt=1212253</ref>.]]

[[Mars Global Surveyor]] is famous for taking many "top down" images of Mars that have revolutionised how we perceive Mars. [[Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter]] bases many of it's observations on investigating features first discovered by MGS (of course probes like [[Mars Odyssey]] also figure strongly in their research material).

What MGS is less well known for is it's "oblique" views. Taken to monitor [[dust storms]] and [[clouds]], and the "[[limb]]" of Mars, these views are incredible, not often seen, views of the Red Planet that you might see as you look out of the porthole of some spacecraft. 

==Dreams of Mars==

[[Image:R0801953_rotated.jpg|thumb|right|550px|Another MGS Oblique view of Olympus Mons using the Malin MOC instrument <ref>http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r03_r09/images/R08/R0801953.html worldwind://goto/world=Mars&lat=18.87000&lon=223.17000&alt=1212253</ref>.]]

Although, of course, they have a Scientific value, I think what makes them more interesting is their psychological value. They are majestic, panoramic, sometimes terrifying in a way. The Red Planet is so often approached from a Scientific standpoint I wonder if we have forgotten that it is literally "the world next door". These images bring forth memories of the novel "[[Dune]]" to mind, and boggle the mind with feelings of "anything could be down there".{{PersPosSection}} [[User:DJ Barney|DJ Barney]]

== Atmosphere ==

[[Image:R0500315_rotated.jpg|thumb|right|550px|Oblique view of Arsia Mons looking east <ref>http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r03_r09/images/R05/R0500315.html worldwind://goto/world=Mars&lat=-10.13000&lon=234.35000&alt=1212253</ref>.]]

These incredible images show that Mars has a healthy [[atmosphere]], which although very different to the one on Earth, nevertheless has [[dust storms]], haze, and a "terminator" between the Mars atmosphere and space. The nature of the "top down" images do not show this, leading to the erroneous impression of a "dead cold" Mars. Both the ESA [[Mars Express]], and [[Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter]] have similar capabilities and a Scientific agenda to study the Mars atmosphere so will will see further "panoramic" oblique views from these orbiters.