Bright Material along the Floor of a Trough in Noctis Labyrinthus
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Bright Material along the Floor of a Trough in Noctis Labyrinthus
ESP_027236_1680  Science Theme: Sedimentary/Layering Processes
Many of the troughs (or, rounded depressions) of Noctis Labyrinthus contain bright, sometimes layered, materials. Noctis Labyrinthus is located on the far western end of the large canyon system Valles Marineris. To the west lie the volcanoes of Tharsis.

This HiRISE image shows an example of the bright material commonly found along the floors of some of the Noctis troughs. Spectral data from the CRISM instrument, also onboard the MRO spacecraft, indicate the bright material is hydrated (i.e., contains water). The hydrated material may have formed when water upwelled into the low-lying depression or when ice within the trough melted due to heating from volcanic activity.

An earlier image taken of this same location will now be combined with this new image to produce a stereo anaglyph. The stereo should allow scientists to understand the relationship between the bright material and the darker rocks that make up the trough floor.

Written by: Cathy Weitz (audio by Tre Gibbs)  (13 June 2012)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_017399_1680.
 
Acquisition date
18 May 2012

Local Mars time
15:29

Latitude (centered)
-11.845°

Longitude (East)
263.172°

Spacecraft altitude
252.1 km (156.7 miles)

Original image scale range
28.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~85 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
26.6°

Phase angle
44.6°

Solar incidence angle
62°, with the Sun about 28° above the horizon

Solar longitude
112.3°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  100°
Sub-solar azimuth:  45.6°
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
Black and white
map-projected   (865MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (511MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (427MB)
non-map           (364MB)

IRB color
map projected  (164MB)
non-map           (379MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (207MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (198MB)

RGB color
non map           (388MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL (DTM)
DTM 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.