Western Arcadia Planitia
This is a Mars Odyssey visible color image of an unnamed crater in
western Arcadia Planitia (near 39 degrees N, 179 degrees E). The crater
shows a number of interesting internal and external features that suggest
that it has undergone substantial modification since it formed. These
features include concentric layers and radial streaks of brighter, redder
materials inside the crater, and a heavily degraded rim and ejecta blanket.
The patterns inside the crater suggest that material has flowed or slumped
towards the center. Other craters with features like this have been seen at
both northern and southern mid latitudes The distribution of these kinds of
craters suggests the possible influence of surface or subsurface ice in the
formation of these enigmatic features. The image was taken on
September 29, 2002 during late northern spring. This is an approximate
true color image, generated from a long strip of visible red (654 nm),
green (540 nm), and blue (425 nm) filter images that were calibrated using
a combination of pre-flight measurements and Hubble images of Mars.
The colors appear perhaps a bit darker than one might expect; this is most
likely because the images were acquired in late afternoon
(roughly 4:40 p.m. local solar time) and the low Sun angle results in an
overall darker surface.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey
mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The thermal
emission imaging system was provided by Arizona State University, Tempe.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor for the
project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are
conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University/Cornell University
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