Expanded Crater and Scalloped Depressions
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 5 DECEMBER 2025

An Expanded Crater and Scalloped Depressions

The interesting thing here is that this looks like an “expanded crater” (a crater that widened as ice went away) but other pits here look like “scalloped depressions” (also due to ice sublimating, but without the crater). Our science rationale for this target is how the shapes and depths are different depending on whether there’s a crater to begin with.



HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!

HiRISE Instrument News
Since July 23, 2023, HiRISE observations have lacked data from the RED4 CCD due to a hardware issue, creating a gap in the middle of image products and reducing the color swath to 1 CCD width. We are investigating the hardware issue and may be able to acquire some RED4 data in the future.

Ridges in Lycus Sulci
Much of the rocks in this area have been subjected to erosion by the wind, so the surface we see today was originally buried deep underground.