HiRISE | Dreaming of Graben in the Labyrinth of the Night (ESP_045605

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Dreaming of Graben in the Labyrinth of the Night
ESP_045605_1715 Science Theme: Composition and Photometry

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Noctis Labyrinthus is a highly tectonized region immediately to the west of Valles Marineris. It formed when Mars’ crust stretched itself apart.

In this region, the crust first stretched in a north-south direction (as evidenced by the east-west trending scarp) and then in an east-west direction (as evidenced by the north-south trending smaller scarps). This sort of tectonic stretching creates faults in the crust (cracks along with masses of rock slide. This process is totally unrelated to Earth’s plate tectonics.).

The lower portions between faults are called “grabens” and the interspersed higher portions are called “horsts.” The Basin and Range tectonic province of the western United States is a close Earth analog to Noctis Labyrinthus, which is Latin for “labyrinth of the night.”

Written by: Kirby Runyon (audio: Tre Gibbs) (29 June 2016)

Acquisition date
19 April 2016

Local Mars time
15:12

Latitude (centered)
-8.198°

Longitude (East)
261.360°

Spacecraft altitude
256.0 km (159.1 miles)

Original image scale range
51.4 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~154 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
9.0°

Phase angle
61.2°

Solar incidence angle
53°, with the Sun about 37° above the horizon

Solar longitude
139.5°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 33.6°

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Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
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map-projected   (247MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (136MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected (128MB)
non-map           (130MB)

IRB color
map projected (57MB)
non-map           (164MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (275MB)

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map-projected (252MB)

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non map           (157MB)

BONUS
4K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
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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.