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Mars is a tantalizing world with remarkable similarities to and differences from Earth. In this Viking spacecraft view of Mars, the Martian north pole is in plain view near the top of the planet, along with the Tarsus volcanoes (left center), and the Mariner’s Valley (below right center). The reddish regions are vast deserts shaped and reshaped by thin, cold Martian winds; the dark regions are more ancient landforms, perhaps comparable to the terrestrial mantle, but exposed on Mars. The white regions are thin layers of cirrus clouds - ice crystal clouds - high in the Martian atmosphere.
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