Colorful Layers Exposed in the Walls of an Impact Crater
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Colorful Layers Exposed in the Walls of an Impact Crater
ESP_028693_1535  Science Theme: Impact Processes
This image covers most of an impact crater about 6 to 7 kilometers wide. Partway down from the crater rim is a prominent bright layer of bedrock.

The full-resolution color data shows three distinct bedrock colors: yellow, light blue-green, and dark blue (in enhanced infrared colors). (North is down in the cutout, so the crater rim is near the top, which helps my brain to interpret the geometry.) These layers must correspond to different types of rock that were deposited as nearly flat-lying sheets, perhaps a combination of lava flows and sediments.

The relatively blue colors in HiRISE infrared color often correspond to minerals like olivine and pyroxene that are common in lava.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (3 October 2012)
 
Acquisition date
09 September 2012

Local Mars time
15:39

Latitude (centered)
-26.092°

Longitude (East)
88.942°

Spacecraft altitude
256.2 km (159.2 miles)

Original image scale range
51.6 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~155 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
5.0°

Phase angle
66.0°

Solar incidence angle
61°, with the Sun about 29° above the horizon

Solar longitude
168.7°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  27.7°
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   (247MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (157MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (126MB)
non-map           (128MB)

IRB color
map projected  (56MB)
non-map           (162MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (230MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (217MB)

RGB color
non map           (136MB)
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.