HiRISE | Colorful Rocks in Ritchey Crater (ESP_011635

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Colorful Rocks in Ritchey Crater
ESP_011635_1510 Science Theme: Impact Processes

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The enhanced color image of this observation includes some interesting features in and near the central uplift of Ritchey Crater.

At the top is an ancient streambed, and above center are multicolored rocks and minerals in the central uplift. Large impact craters are unstable when they are formed, because their walls are so steep. Gravity causes the walls to collapse toward the center of the crater, colliding to form an uplift or peak. This process of central uplift formation can bring rocks from deep in the crater walls up to the surface.

The angular bright blocks near the center of this image show that this process breaks the wall rocks into fragments as the central uplift is formed.Written by: Ken Herkenhoff (25 February 2009)

This is a stereo pair with PSP_002682_1510.

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Acquisition date:	19 January 2009	Local Mars time:	4:00 PM
Latitude (centered):	-28.5 degrees	Longitude (East):	309.1 degrees
Range to target site:	264.8 km (165.5 miles)	Original image scale range:	26.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	25 cm/pixel and North is up	Map projection:	EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:	15.0 degrees	Phase angle:	46.9 degrees
Solar incidence angle:	61 degrees, with the Sun about 29 degrees above the horizon	Solar longitude:	194.0 degrees, Northern Autumn
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North azimuth:	98 degrees	Sub-solar azimuth:	15.7 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:	270 degrees	Sub solar azimuth:	189.3 degrees

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All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.