Syrtis Major Planum

Syrtis Major Planitia (the Great Syrtis ) is a vast plateau on the planet Mars.

Syrtis Major has a triangular shape. The 1,300 -km-wide basis is to the north west of the highlands Thyrrhena Terra near the equator. From there, the plateau extends approximately 1,500 km in a northerly direction.

Syrtis Major is seen from Earth, the most striking and darkest structure of Mars and can already be seen in small telescopes. The dark color comes from the fact that only small deposits of lighter Mars dust is present on the plateau. The dust is apparently " blown away " by the winds and settles in deeper regions such as the eastern Isidis Planitia.

Christiaan Huygens discovered Syrtis Major in 1659 Based on their position changes he determined the self-rotation of Mars 24.5 hours. ( Current value: 24.623 h).

• Surface structure on Mars