A Cone-Shaped Pit on South Polar Deposits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
A Cone-Shaped Pit on South Polar Deposits
ESP_076532_0920  Science Theme: Polar Geology
This image is part of a stereo pair covering this strange pit on the edge of the South Polar residual cap. This will be the third stereo pair acquired by HiRISE over this feature, to measure any changes in the depth and shape of the pit over time, as it might be actively collapsing due to loss of carbon dioxide ice from the subsurface.

See the stereo anaglyph from a prior stereo pair for comparison.

Written by: Alfred McEwen  (18 January 2023)


This is a stereo pair with ESP_076203_0920.
 
Acquisition date
23 November 2022

Local Mars time
17:34

Latitude (centered)
-87.904°

Longitude (East)
246.167°

Spacecraft altitude
247.6 km (153.9 miles)

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

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel

Map projection
Polarstereographic

Emission angle
15.4°

Phase angle
91.8°

Solar incidence angle
83°, with the Sun about 7° above the horizon

Solar longitude
343.2°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  137°
Sub-solar azimuth:  55.1°
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   (284MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (175MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (186MB)
non-map           (198MB)

IRB color
map projected  (96MB)
non-map           (159MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (279MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (257MB)

RGB color
non map           (142MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL (DTM)
DTM 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

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.