Crater with Exposed Layers
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Crater with Exposed Layers
PSP_008206_1620  Science Theme: Impact Processes
On Earth, geologists can dig holes and pull up core samples to find out what lies beneath the surface. On Mars, geologists cannot dig holes very easily themselves, but a process has been occurring for billions of years that has been digging holes for them: impact cratering.

Impact craters form when an asteroid, meteoroid, or comet crashes into a planet’s surface, causing an explosion. The energy of the explosion, and the resulting size of the impact crater, depends on the size and density of the impactor, as well as the properties of the surface it hits. In general, the larger and denser the impactor, the larger the crater it will form.

The impact crater in this image is a little less than 3 kilometers in diameter. The impact revealed layers when it excavated the Martian surface. Layers can form in a variety of different ways. Multiple lava flows in one area can form stacked sequences, as can deposits from rivers or lakes. Understanding the geology around impact craters and searching for mineralogical data within their layers can help scientists on Earth better understand what the walls of impact craters on Mars expose.

(Note: North is approximately down in the cutout and above image).

Written by: Andrea Jones  (17 January 2017)
 
Acquisition date
26 April 2008

Local Mars time
15:15

Latitude (centered)
-17.732°

Longitude (East)
329.086°

Spacecraft altitude
261.0 km (162.2 miles)

Original image scale range
26.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
8.0°

Phase angle
57.1°

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

Solar longitude
64.0°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  44.2°
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   (444MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (210MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (179MB)
non-map           (266MB)

IRB color
map projected  (51MB)
non-map           (198MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (107MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (108MB)

RGB color
non map           (196MB)
BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)

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.