New View of Dark Pit on Arsia Mons
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
New View of Dark Pit on Arsia Mons
PSP_004847_1745  Science Theme: Tectonic Processes

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Dark pits on some of the Martian volcanoes have been speculated to be entrances into caves. A previous HiRISE image, looking essentially straight down, saw only darkness in this pit.

This time the pit was imaged from the west. Since the picture was taken at about 2:30 p.m. local (Mars) time, the sun was also shining from the west. We can now see the eastern wall of the pit catching the sunlight.

This confirms that this pit is essentially a vertical shaft cut through the lava flows on the flank of the volcano. Such pits form on similar volcanoes in Hawaii and are called "pit craters." They generally do not connect to long open caverns but are the result of deep underground collapse. From the shadow of the rim cast onto the wall of the pit we can calculate that the pit is at least 178 meters (584 feet) deep. The pit is 150 x 157 meters (492 x 515 feet) across.

Written by: Laszlo P. Keszthelyi  (29 August 2007)

This is a stereo pair with PSP_003647_1745.
 
Acquisition date
09 August 2007

Local Mars time
14:34

Latitude (centered)
-5.541°

Longitude (East)
241.398°

Spacecraft altitude
252.2 km (156.8 miles)

Original image scale range
26.4 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
17.7°

Phase angle
25.5°

Solar incidence angle
41°, with the Sun about 49° above the horizon

Solar longitude
292.1°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  335.2°
JPEG
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map projected  non-map

IRB color
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Merged IRB
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Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
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JP2
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map-projected   (767MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (322MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (299MB)
non-map           (472MB)

IRB color
map projected  (99MB)
non-map           (416MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (264MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (257MB)

RGB color
non map           (402MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph 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.