Exposed Ice in Fresh Crater
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Exposed Ice in Fresh Crater
ESP_018273_2245  Science Theme: Impact Processes
Previous HiRISE images of fresh craters in the middle to high northern latitudes show exposed water ice on the poleward-facing slopes. The enlarged image shows an approximately 6 meter-diameter crater. Based on “before” and “after” images acquired by the Odyssey THEMIS and MRO CTX cameras, respectively, this crater formed some time between April 2004 and January 2010.

The crater is at a latitude of 44 degrees north and is itself located on the ejecta of a larger crater. The image was acquired in early summer, when frost at this latitude is not expected. It is therefore believed that the bright blue material in this false-color color image is subsurface ice that was exposed by the impact.

This ice is probably at the same depth and has a similar origin to that excavated by the Phoenix lander back in 2008. The area of exposed ice based on the HiRISE images is about 1 to 2 square meters (or, 10 to 20 square feet).

Written by: Nathan Bridges  (4 August 2010)
 
Acquisition date
20 June 2010

Local Mars time
15:09

Latitude (centered)
44.325°

Longitude (East)
152.934°

Spacecraft altitude
303.2 km (188.4 miles)

Original image scale range
30.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~91 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
4.7°

Phase angle
48.1°

Solar incidence angle
43°, with the Sun about 47° above the horizon

Solar longitude
107.1°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  353.6°
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
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map-projected   (1201MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (500MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (543MB)
non-map           (565MB)

IRB color
map projected  (206MB)
non-map           (404MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (369MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (360MB)

RGB color
non map           (393MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

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.