PIA21459: A New Crater on a Dusty Slope


A New Crater on a Dusty Slope

Caption:

Click here for larger version of PIA21459
Map Projected Browse Image
Click on the image for larger version

This image shows a new impact site originally detected by the Context Camera onboard MRO. The crater is on a dusty slope, which also has several dark slope streaks due to dust avalanches.

A previous impact at another place on Mars triggered a major dust avalanche, but this one did not. This tells us that the dust here is more stable (stronger and/or on a lower slope).

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 27.1 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 81 centimeters (30 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

Background Info:

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Instrument Host Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Crater, Dust, Impact, Map
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2017-02-20
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21459
Identifier PIA21459