Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum
ESP_023335_1560  Science Theme: Composition and Photometry
This image shows a small light-toned exposure of rock on the plains of Terra Sirenum, in a heavily cratered region of the Southern Hemisphere of Mars.

What’s of interest here is the potential hydrated mineral signature that appears in CRISM multispectral data. Hydrated minerals on Mars are indicators of past environmental conditions. Comparing high-resolution images from HiRISE and the high spectral resolution of CRISM helps understand these minerals.

Prior to HiRISE, there were no existing high-resolution images of this exposure.

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (27 March 2013)
 
Acquisition date
19 July 2011

Local Mars time
14:10

Latitude (centered)
-23.951°

Longitude (East)
202.820°

Spacecraft altitude
256.8 km (159.6 miles)

Original image scale range
51.5 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~154 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
3.0°

Phase angle
36.0°

Solar incidence angle
33°, with the Sun about 57° above the horizon

Solar longitude
330.8°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  21.3°
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non-map           (47MB)

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non-map           (44MB)

Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
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EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
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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.