Outcrops in the Hellas Montes
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Outcrops in the Hellas Montes
PSP_006672_1420  Science Theme: Fluvial Processes
The Hellas Montes are a group of mountains along the western rim of the giant Hellas Basin on Mars.

The Hellas Basin is the largest of the obvious impact craters on the Red Planet. It is very ancient and has been partially filled by sediments. The Hellas Montes are part of the eroded crater rim.

In the central part of this HiRISE image, we can see steep slopes where landslides have exposed a variety of rocks. The jumble of blocks, rather than stacks of layered sediments or lavas, is consistent with impact crater ejecta. On flatter slopes, the ground is covered with a mantling deposit that is generally considered to be ice-rich dust.

In the southern part of the image, a large circular depression—rimmed by a zone with many large boulders—is visible. This is an impact crater with a relatively thin mantling deposit on its rim.

Written by: Laszlo P. Keszthelyi  (23 January 2008)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_031910_1420.
 
Acquisition date
29 December 2007

Local Mars time
14:36

Latitude (centered)
-37.690°

Longitude (East)
97.257°

Spacecraft altitude
251.2 km (156.1 miles)

Original image scale range
25.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~75 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
3.9°

Phase angle
58.3°

Solar incidence angle
55°, with the Sun about 35° above the horizon

Solar longitude
9.7°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  46.0°
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ANAGLYPHS
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Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
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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.