More interesting data from our web statistics: rankings of the most popular images on our website. Some you’d expect to get lots of hits: special campaigns like Phoenix lander hardware and Phobos, and of course old favorites like a certain feature in Cydonia. Others have made a splash in the news, like the avalanche caught in action and a deep pit that might be the entrance to a cave – whether their popularity on our website is a cause or effect of the media coverage.

I find it interesting to see which “regular” images, out of the thousands we’ve taken, caught people’s attention – in May, for example, gullies in a crater wall and ridges in Huo Hsing Vallis (left) were popular. June saw lots of hits on this beautiful image of the north polar layered deposits (above) and this image of delicate-looking, multi-tendriled slope streaks.

In July, the “Mystery Mounds” (PSP_008778_1685 and PSP_008548_2205) were popular, presumably because they are so “mysterious” – ? (By the way, these two areas, despite their similar titles, are nowhere near each other on Mars.) Lesson learned: We should give more of our images “sexy” titles.