This piece was selected to appear in The Artist's Universe - a traveling exhibit of
juried art pieces by International Association of Astronomical Artists
members being shown worldwide during 2005-2008.

25 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Prints have been printed
as a 13" x 19" borderless paper print - or as a 15" x 30" image
on artist's fine white canvas.

This explorer appears awestruck as an oncoming dust storm - although still some 40 kilometers away - moves across the surface at speeds up to one-hundred kilometers per hour. These dust storms can rise to great heights as fine iron-oxide dust particles race through the mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere.

Such dust storms are caused by the planets extremely thin atmospheric pressure - little more than 1% compared to the atmospheric pressure on Earth - which creates large temperature differentials resulting in high winds as adjacent areas of the planet rapidly heat up or cool down.

This condition of 'heating-up-and-cooling down' is further enhanced when the planets' southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun - which occurs during Mars' closest approach to the sun during the Martian 'summer'.

Typical temperature range at the surface is 100-degrees F. (38-degrees C.) between the warmest and coldest part of the day - with the average daily temperature being -60 degrees F - about the same as a nice day in Antartica on Earth.

This storm is moving over the far wall of a dune-filled crater as it approaches. Although the astronaut should be seeking shelter - such storms are not considered unusual, and several planet-wide storms that have lasted for months have been recorded.

But caution should always be the norm - as this storm lifts untold numbers of extremely fine particles of dust and grit that can scour a helmets' face-plate opaque, or even find its way into space-suit flex-joints or into precision life-support equipment.