PIA21576: Is that an Impact Crater?


Is that an Impact Crater?

Caption:

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Map Projected Browse Image
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This image was acquired to take a closer look at a circular feature that might be an impact structure on the South Polar layered deposits.

Measuring the sizes and frequency of impact craters provides a constraint on the age of the landscape. However, craters in icy terrain are modified by processes that flatten and change them in such a manner that it is hard to say for sure if it had an impact origin.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 49.8 centimeters (19.6 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 150 centimeters (59 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 Crater, Grayscale, Impact, Map
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2017-04-04
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21576
Identifier PIA21576