Tag Archives: gullies

HiRISE: Glowing gullies in Kaiser Crater dunes

Posted on July 1, 2016 by rburnham

The giant sand dunes in Kaiser Crater experience gully erosion of the steep slip faces every year in late winter as the sun warms these slopes and seasonal carbon dioxide frost sublimates (meaning it changes from a solid to gas). … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Eridania Planitia – false color

Posted on June 22, 2016 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, June 22, 2016. Today’s false color images shows part of Eridania Planitia. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Gullies with dramatic lighting

Posted on April 22, 2016 by rburnham

This image was acquired to look for frost on these generally equator-facing slopes, which are visible in the shadows after enhancing the brightness levels. It is also a dramatic image given the low-sun illumination. The color cutout has north down … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Night vision

Posted on March 11, 2016 by rburnham

It’s hard to see in the dark. Most HiRISE images are are taken when the sun is at least 15 degrees above the horizon. (If you hold your hand at arm’s length with fingers together, it’s about five degrees wide … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Frosted gully slopes

Posted on February 26, 2016 by rburnham

At first glance, this image looks like a mistake because the gullies of interest are entirely hidden in a large shadow filling most of the crater. At this latitude, gullies preferentially form on pole-facing slopes, but these slopes are in … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Gullied crater in the Northern Hemisphere

Posted on February 22, 2016 by rburnham

Gullied crater in the Northern Hemisphere — With quite a lovely sedimentary fan. Beautiful Mars series.

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Gullies carved by CO2 ice, not water?

Posted on December 30, 2015 by rburnham

Mars’s gullies may be formed by dry ice processes rather than flowing liquid water, as previously thought. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by two French scientists published online on December 21st in Nature Geoscience. They show that, … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Youthful crater in Cydonia Colles region

Posted on December 3, 2015 by rburnham

The central portion of this image is dominated by a sharp-rimmed crater that is roughly 5 kilometers in diameter. On its slopes, gullies show young (i.e., geologically recent) headward erosion, which is the lengthening of the gully in the upslope … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Gullies in a central-pit crater

Posted on October 16, 2015 by rburnham

Sometimes a central pit forms inside some Martian craters, especially when there’s substantial ground ice. Such is the case in this observation. Sometimes what we call “mass wasting” processes (think small avalanches or landslides) occur on the slopes of the … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Noachis Terra — false color

Posted on August 5, 2015 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, August 5, 2015. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations … Continue reading →

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