PIA05704: Crater in Cydonia


Crater in Cydonia

Caption:

30 March 2004
Erosion has created a wide variety of landforms in the Cydonia region of Mars. Located in a zone of transition from cratered highlands to northern plains, Cydonia is a jumble of thousands of massifs, mesas, buttes, and hills---remnants of ancient cratered highlands in a state of advanced erosion. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater, slightly smaller than the famous 1 kilometer-diameter (0.62 miles) Meteor Crater in Arizona, U.S.A., that has been left standing high relative to the surrounding terrain because erosion removed most of the rock into which this crater originally formed. Later processes have mantled the crater and surroundings with debris that, at a finer scale, has also been eroded over time. This image occurs near 40.1°N, 13.6°W, and covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
Instrument Host Mars Global Surveyor
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2004-03-30
Date in Caption 2004-03-30
Image Credit NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05704
Identifier PIA05704