Ejecta Craters

Scaled Image

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

About this image

After the Odyssey spacecraft had completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet Image of the Day looked back over this first mars year. Focus was on four themes: 1) the poles - with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters - with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels - the clues to liquid surface flow; and 4) volcanic flow features. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars. Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than anti-sun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark. This daytime IR image was collected on February 11, 2003 during the southern winter season. This image shows the tiny lines of craters created by the ejecta from the large crater to the left.

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. 

Context

Image ID: 
I05149006 (View data in Mars Image Explorer)
-3.971
183.309
5149
2003-02-11 04:29
Mon, 2004-03-22
IR
320 pixels (31 km)
2720 pixels (273 km)
0.100703 km/pixel
0.098033 km/pixel

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