Mars. Less than a month until opposition.

Mars rotation over 2 hours on the night of September 24-25. The animation is composed of 10 frames taken at 12-minute intervals. The dark areas on Mars are traditionally called "seas," but they are actually regions of the planet's terrain with little Martian dust, where basaltic rock from ancient volcanic eruptions once surfaced and solidified for centuries. The animation shows the famous region known as "Syrtis Major" disappearing over the horizon.