Candidate Cavern Entrance Northeast of Arsia Mons
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Candidate Cavern Entrance Northeast of Arsia Mons
PSP_003647_1745  Science Theme: Tectonic Processes
This image shows a very dark spot on an otherwise bright dusty lava plain to the northeast of Arsia Mons, one of the four giant Tharsis volcanoes.

This is not an impact crater as it lacks a raised rim or ejecta. What's amazing is that we cannot see any detail in the shadow! Here we see this dark spot and a version that is “enhanced” to view the darkest area, yet we still cannot see details except noise.

The HiRISE camera is very sensitive and we can see details in almost any shadow on Mars, but not here. We also cannot see the deep walls of the pit. The best interpretation is that this is a collapse pit into a cavern or at least a pit with overhanging walls. We cannot see the walls because they are either perfectly vertical and extremely dark or, more likely, overhanging.

The pit must be very deep to prevent detection of the floor from skylight, which is quite bright on Mars.

Written by: Alfred McEwen  (23 May 2007)


This is a stereo pair with PSP_004847_1745.
 
Acquisition date
07 May 2007

Local Mars time
15:27

Latitude (centered)
-5.532°

Longitude (East)
241.396°

Spacecraft altitude
252.5 km (156.9 miles)

Original image scale range
25.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~76 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.6°

Phase angle
51.7°

Solar incidence angle
52°, with the Sun about 38° above the horizon

Solar longitude
233.4°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  345.0°
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RGB color
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ANAGLYPHS
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Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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HiView

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

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
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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:
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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.