Dune Symmetry
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Dune Symmetry
ESP_016036_1370  Science Theme: Aeolian Processes
Dunes of sand-sized materials have been trapped on the floors of many Martian craters. This is one example, from a crater in Noachis Terra, west of the giant Hellas impact basin.

The dunes here are linear, thought to be due to shifting wind directions. In places, each dune is remarkably similar to adjacent dunes, including a reddish (or dust colored) band on northeast-facing slopes. Large angular boulders litter the floor between dunes.

The most extensive linear dune fields know in the Solar System are on Saturn”s large moon Titan. Titan has a very different environment and composition, so at meter-scale resolution they probably are very different from Martian dunes.

Written by: Alfred McEwen  (13 January 2010)
 
Acquisition date
28 December 2009

Local Mars time
14:51

Latitude (centered)
-42.660°

Longitude (East)
38.023°

Spacecraft altitude
252.0 km (156.6 miles)

Original image scale range
25.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~76 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
6.7°

Phase angle
72.0°

Solar incidence angle
67°, with the Sun about 23° above the horizon

Solar longitude
29.8°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  96°
Sub-solar azimuth:  49.7°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (1187MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (530MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (539MB)
non-map           (732MB)

IRB color
map projected  (223MB)
non-map           (530MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (299MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (288MB)

RGB color
non map           (532MB)
BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)
10K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
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:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
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. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.