The Upside-Down in Terra Sabaea
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
The Upside-Down in Terra Sabaea
ESP_076432_1595  Science Theme: Fluvial Processes
This image captures a portion of the extensive tributary ridge networks found within this unique crater near the highlands of the Hellas impact basin.

Early in its history, the highlands of Mars may have been covered by ice glaciers that flowed into low areas such as impact craters, leaving behind evidence of their advance and retreat. These ridges have been interpreted as inverted (upside-down) channel deposits derived from the melting of highland glaciers.

The fluvial (water) activity recorded here is different from the impact crater basins observed elsewhere that have been fed by external fluvial flows in the form of valley networks or isolated inlet valleys. This crater is instead a “closed-source drainage basin,” where fluvial activity appears to have both started and stopped within the confines of the crater floor itself.

Written by: Ben Boatwright  (7 December 2022)


This is a stereo pair with ESP_076366_1595.
 
Acquisition date
15 November 2022

Local Mars time
14:23

Latitude (centered)
-20.253°

Longitude (East)
42.925°

Spacecraft altitude
256.6 km (159.5 miles)

Original image scale range
25.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~78 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
6.2°

Phase angle
42.4°

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

Solar longitude
339.1°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  19.5°
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JP2
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JP2 EXTRAS
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non-map           (678MB)

IRB color
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non-map           (479MB)

Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
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RGB color
non map           (485MB)
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

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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.