HiRISE (NASA)
HiRISE is a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). We take images of the surface of Mars. Based out of UArizona in Tucson.
Joined Aug 2018
HiRISE 3D: Gullied Slope Monitoring
These impressive gullies are worth not only having stereo images, but also tracking changes over time.
Full image: https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083492_1325_ESP_083426_1325_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
HiPOD: A South Polar Pit or an Impact Crater?
It is late summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so the Sun is low in the sky and subtle topography is accentuated in orbital images.
We see many shallow pits in the bright residual cap of carbon dioxide ice (also called “Swiss cheese terrain”). There is also a deeper, circular formation that penetrates through the ice and dust. This might be an impact crater or it could be a collapse pit.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_049972_0930
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars
HiRISE 4K: Holden Crater Megabreccia
This HiRISE image covers the southwest portion of the terraces and floor of Holden Crater situated in southwest Margaritifer Terra.
Full cutout: https://flic.kr/p/2q3woMn
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
HiRISE 3D: Channels in Tyrrhena Terra
The objective of this observation is to examine channels that appear to end at the same level. Maybe they were emptying into a lake.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083327_1520_ESP_083116_1520_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
HiPOD: A Woodpecker on Mars?
This image reveals some bright materials on a crater floor, part of which forms an outline similar to a woodpecker. This bright material appears to have collected in relative topographic low areas, perhaps bright materials carried and deposited by water in Mars’ past. The concentric troughs (woodpecker's body) may be collapse features as seen elsewhere nearby.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_083512_1500
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiPOD: An Ancient Valley Network
How the climate of Mars could have supported a warmer and wetter environment has been the subject of scientific debates for 40 years. A full-resolution enhanced color closeup reveals details in the bedrock and dunes on the valley floor (upper left). The bedrock of ancient Mars has been hardened and cemented by groundwater.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_049977_1610
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: Craters in Ejecta in Northern Mid-Latitudes
The objective of this observation is to determine the nature of a crater in ejecta that shows rings or layers.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083373_2145_ESP_074986_2145_RED
HiPOD: Dune Ripples in Her Desher Vallis
These small ripples, about 10 meters apart, are located in Her Desher Vallis. Her Desher is a small channel that shows evidence of phyllosilicates—silicates with a sheet-like structure, such as clay minerals.
Much larger images of this area show that Her Desher Vallis appears isolated, with no obvious connections to craters or larger valleys. Her Desher, the ancient Egyptian name for Mars, translates to “the Red One.”
HiPOD: North Polar Layers: Streaking and Unconformity
This oblique image of part of the North Polar layered deposits, acquired in the summertime, shows both phenomena in the upper and lower panels, plus a topographic bend in the middle panel. Blue areas in this enhanced color image are covered by frost, whereas the darker colors are from differences in contamination and texture of the icy layers.
HiPOD: The White Cliffs of Rover
This image reminds us of the rugged and open terrain of a stark shore-line, perhaps of an island nation, such as the British Isles. A close-up in enhanced color produces a striking effect, giving the impression of a cloud-covered cliff edge with foamy waves crashing against it.
The reality is that the surface of Mars is much dryer than our imaginations might want to suggest.
HiRISE 3D: Mesa Stratigraphy at Terby Crater
The 2-3 km sequence of stratigraphy exposed across the three mesas in the northeastern portion of Terby Crater likely capture a diverse range of sedimentary rock types that include deposition across all of the three major Martian geologic eras.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083697_1530_ESP_083486_1530_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
HiPOD: A Volcanic Fissure
Although Mars is known for having the largest volcano in our Solar System, Olympus Mons, we also find small-scale volcanic features on its surface.
This fissure, less than 500 meters across at its widest point, lies in the Tharsis region and is believed to be a vent from which lava flowed in ancient eruptions.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_019391_1960
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiPOD: Once in a Blue Dune
Sand dunes often accumulate in the floors of craters. In this region of Lyot Crater there is a field of classic barchan dunes.
Just to the south of the group of barchan dunes is one large dune with a more complex structure. This particular dune, appearing like turquoise blue in enhanced color*, is made of finer material and/or has a different composition than the surroundings.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_053894_2295
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: Channels and Fan in a Crater in the Aeolis Region
The goal is understanding the local fan stratigraphy. There are at least three fans in this crater, but when did they form relative to each other?
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083681_1800_ESP_083470_1800_RED
HiPOD: Decoding a Geological Message
A close up image of a recent 150-meter diameter impact crater near Amazonis Mensa and Medusae Fossae is another great example of geologic complexity of Mars. The spider web-like texture of this crater is intriguing. But what does it mean?
Although Mars is not nearly as geologically active as Earth, it is still a host to many processes that shape its surface even today.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_049167_1855
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiPOD: The “Specters” of Mars
The jagged saw-tooth dichotomy, over a grainy texture, seen in this close-up image, reminds us of a scene from an old silent horror movie. Stark and unnerving, like that time between dusk and darkness, as the campfire burns out...was that something moving you saw through the canvas of your tent?
HiPOD: Dragon Scales of Mars
This intriguing surface texture is the result of rock interacting with water. The rock was then eroded and later exposed to the surface. The pinkish, almost dragon-like scaled texture represents Martian bedrock that has specifically altered into a clay-bearing rock.
The nature of the water responsible for the alteration, and how it interacted with the rock to form the clay remains poorly understood.
More: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_050275_1500
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars
HiPOD: Monitoring Sand Sheets and Dunes
This kind of environment has been monitored by HiRISE since 2007 to look for movement in the ripples covering the dunes and sheets. This is how scientists who study wind-blown sand can track the amount of sand moving through the area and possibly where the sand came from.
HiPOD: A Cliff of Ice in Malea Patera
Malea Patera is one of four volcanic constructs that make up Malea Planum in the Southern Highlands of Mars. This image shows the southern-most part of Malea Patera’s plateau escarpment.
On these steep scarps, ice can still be seen on the south facing walls of the scarp towards the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.
ID: ESP_082999_1165
date: 10 April 2024
altitude: 249 km
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_082999_1165
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: A Resistant Layer in the Medusae Fossae Formation
A resistant layer here, interpreted as a lava flow, was apparently interbedded with the MFF and is worth a closer look in 3D.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_082729_1830_ESP_083230_1830_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science
HiRISE (NASA)
HiRISE is a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). We take images of the surface of Mars. Based out of UArizona in Tucson.
Joined Aug 2018