HiRISE | Colorful Rocks in Ritchey Crater (ESP_011635

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Colorful Rocks in Ritchey Crater
ESP_011635_1510 Science Theme: Impact Processes

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The enhanced color image of this observation includes some interesting features in and near the central uplift of Ritchey Crater.

At the top is an ancient streambed, and above center are multicolored rocks and minerals in the central uplift. Large impact craters are unstable when they are formed, because their walls are so steep. Gravity causes the walls to collapse toward the center of the crater, colliding to form an uplift or peak. This process of central uplift formation can bring rocks from deep in the crater walls up to the surface.

The angular bright blocks near the center of this image show that this process breaks the wall rocks into fragments as the central uplift is formed.

Written by: Ken Herkenhoff (25 February 2009)

This is a stereo pair with PSP_002682_1510.

Acquisition date
19 January 2009

Local Mars time
16:00

Latitude (centered)
-28.502°

Longitude (East)
309.059°

Spacecraft altitude
254.4 km (158.1 miles)

Original image scale range
26.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
15.0°

Phase angle
46.9°

Solar incidence angle
61°, with the Sun about 29° above the horizon

Solar longitude
194.0°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 15.6°

JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (1363MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (613MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (735MB)
non-map           (738MB)

IRB color
map projected (223MB)
non-map           (551MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (343MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (324MB)

RGB color
non map           (559MB)

ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL (DTM)
DTM details page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.