Crater Ejecta in the Utopia Region
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Crater Ejecta in the Utopia Region
PSP_010100_2165  Science Theme: Glacial/Periglacial Processes
This image of a crater in the Utopian region can be described as what happens when heat produced from an impact comes into contact with Mars’ icy surface.

Since the surface temperature of Mars is well below the freezing point of water, Mars’ soil is a mixture of soil and permafrost. When this impact occurred, a great deal of energy in the form of heat was released onto the surface, creating a melted feature in the bright icy soil. This melting and then refreezing of the ice (as the impact cooled) caused what is known as a periglacial formation. This is depicted towards the middle of the image where the ejecta blanket lays.

This is likely a geologically newer surface since the only impacts disrupting the image are a few small craters that are mostly towards the bottom left-hand side of the full image. The fact the ejecta blanket is still intact and not fully collapsed supports the idea that is it a newer surface feature as it has not been affected by erosional processes.

Written by: Laura Woodbury and Circe Verba  (20 May 2009)
 
Acquisition date
21 September 2008

Local Mars time
15:28

Latitude (centered)
36.255°

Longitude (East)
87.651°

Spacecraft altitude
295.7 km (183.8 miles)

Original image scale range
from 29.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 59.2 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning)

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
2.7°

Phase angle
45.9°

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

Solar longitude
130.4°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  358.5°
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non-map           (166MB)

IRB color
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non-map           (214MB)

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map-projected  (145MB)

RGB color
non map           (199MB)
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4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)
10K (TIFF)

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.