Colorful Sediments near Hellas Basin
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Colorful Sediments near Hellas Basin
ESP_032359_1525  Science Theme: Tectonic Processes
Excellent exposures of light-toned layered deposits occur along the northern edge of Hellas Basin, like those visible in this enhanced color image.

Some of these layered sediments have hydration features in CRISM data, and the various colors visible in this image suggests several different compositions may be present throughout the strata. The sediments may have been emplaced by hydrothermal activity associated with the impact event that created Hellas Basin.

Alternatively, they could be younger deposits that formed within this region when a lake existed here. Studies of the deposits using several data sets could distinguish between these two origins and may result in additional hypotheses for their formation.

Written by: Cathy Weitz (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (17 July 2013)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_032425_1525.
 
Acquisition date
21 June 2013

Local Mars time
14:08

Latitude (centered)
-27.273°

Longitude (East)
78.390°

Spacecraft altitude
257.7 km (160.1 miles)

Original image scale range
55.8 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~167 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
23.0°

Phase angle
56.4°

Solar incidence angle
36°, with the Sun about 54° above the horizon

Solar longitude
339.5°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  96°
Sub-solar azimuth:  33.1°
JPEG
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IRB color
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Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
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RGB color
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JP2
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JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (239MB)
non-map           (206MB)

IRB color
map projected  (93MB)
non-map           (226MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (447MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (400MB)

RGB color
non map           (200MB)
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.