Colorful Mawrth Vallis

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Caption:

Map Projected Browse Image
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Mawrth Vallis is a place on Mars that has fascinated scientists because of the clays and other hydrated minerals detected from orbit.

In this image, the enhanced black colors are most likely basaltic sands and rocks, while the green, yellow, and blue colors correspond to the different hydrated minerals.

This particular image was taken of a location in Mawrth Vallis that has a mineral called jarosite. Jarosite on Earth forms under wet, oxidizing, and acidic conditions. Another place on Mars where the Opportunity rover landed and explored also has jarosite.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 59.8 centimeters (23.5 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 180 centimeters (70.9 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_058749_2060 .

Background Info:

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. 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.

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