What is it about Mars that so fascinates us? I mean, other than the possibility that it can harbour life underneath its harsh surface, and possibly even liquid water in certain areas, making it much more amenable to potential human habitation? Is it the similarities with Earth? The differences? Is it a cultural relic from the "Canali/Canals" of Schiaparelli and Lowell?

Whatever it is, that is a beautiful image of a world that is not nearly as distant now as it was even just ten years ago.