An Irregular Crater Intersecting Graben in Tractus Albus
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
An Irregular Crater Intersecting Graben in Tractus Albus
ESP_035226_2090  Science Theme: Fluvial Processes
This crater, of which only a small portion is visible in the full HiRISE image, is very irregularly shaped and might suggest that some underlying liquid was present that made it so elongated after the initial impact.

Another reason for the crater’s shape might be that it was caused by a binary asteroid pair or a meteorite that broke into multiple fragments just before hitting the ground leading to the formation of a number of superimposed craters that produced this odd-shaped depression. Such craters have been previously observed by HiRISE.

The crater itself intersects a graben, which is a depressed stretch of land typically bordered by parallel faults. Note the dark streak on the crater’s eastern wall.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team (audio: Tre Gibbs)  (2 April 2014)
 
Acquisition date
31 January 2014

Local Mars time
15:11

Latitude (centered)
28.845°

Longitude (East)
278.208°

Spacecraft altitude
285.7 km (177.6 miles)

Original image scale range
57.2 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~172 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
2.8°

Phase angle
39.8°

Solar incidence angle
42°, with the Sun about 48° above the horizon

Solar longitude
83.5°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  12.6°
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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.