Abalos Mensa
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Abalos Mensa is a wedge-shaped mound, or mensa and one of the named features in the vicinity of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by IAU in 2006. It extends from latitude 80.21°N to 82.4°N and from longitude 279.34°E to 290.52°E. Its centre is located at latitude 81.17°N, longitude 284.4°E (75.6°W), and has a diameter of 129.18 km.
Perspective view of the Martian polar ice cap and the Rupes Tenuis scarp with Abalos Mensa on the left of the picture. Picture was taken by the Mars Express orbiter of the European Space Agency
The Rupes Tenuis scarp with Abalos Mensa at the top of the picture. Picture was taken by the European Space Agency
Abalos Undae at Abalos Scopuli, the scarp of Abalos Mensa
Scarp face of the north polar cap near Abalos Mensa. VIS image shows the scarp face of the north polar cap near Abalos Mensa. The top part of the image is the polar cap. This image was collected during northern hemisphere summer.
The classical albedo features of Mars are the light and dark features that can be seen on the planet Mars through an Earth-based telescope. Before the age of space probes, several astronomers created maps of Mars on which they gave names to the features they could see. The most popular system of nomenclature was devised by Giovanni Schiaparelli, who used names from classical antiquity. Today, the improved understanding of Mars enabled by space probes has rendered many of the classical names obsolete for the purposes of cartography; however, some of the old names are still used to describe geographical features on the planet.
Mars albedo features after the 1958 official list of names, but before the 1972 observations of Mariner 9.
Image: Mars Géolocalisation