Tag Archives: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

HiRISE: A margin of lava

A margin of lava. This lava margin in Cerberus Palus is part of the Athabasca Valles flow. There are also lava coils in this region, something we did not know existed on Mars until HiRISE took an image. The lava … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Layers in Meridiani

Layers in Meridiani. Despite the numerous data gaps with this observation, we can still get a closer look at the layers in Meridiani Planum. The hematite we find in this region is part of a layered sedimentary rock formation about … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Colorful Mawrth Vallis

Mawrth Vallis is a place on Mars that has fascinated scientists because of the clays and other hydrated minerals detected from orbit. In this image, the enhanced black colors are most likely basaltic sands and rocks, while the green, yellow, … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, Feb 25-March 3, 2019

Last week on Mars, the southern highlands experienced an uptick in local-scale dust storm activity. Meanwhile, on the other side of the red planet, a mixture of dust storms and water ice clouds continued to propagate eastward along the seasonal … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Colorful impact ejecta in Ladon Valles

This image covers the western portion of a well-preserved (recent) impact crater in Ladon Basin. Ladon is filled by diverse materials including chemically-altered sediments and unaltered lava, so the impact event ejected and deposited a wide range of elements. This … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Gullies in Galle

This image was taken of the hills that resulted from uplifted rocks due to an impact that formed the 230-kilometer diameter Galle Crater. These hills form a segment of a circle known as a “peak ring” and this particular formation … Continue reading

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HiRISE: The slow charm of brain terrain

You are staring at one of the unsolved mysteries on Mars. This surface texture of interconnected ridges and troughs, referred to as “brain terrain” is found throughout the mid-latitude regions of Mars. (This image is in Protonilus Mensae.) This bizarrely … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Living on the edge

Living on the edge. The rim of this crater looks fairly sharp, meaning it hasn’t degraded too much even though it is likely very old. The exposed, light-toned bedrock is a bonus. HiRISE Picture of the Day archive [More at … Continue reading

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HiRISE: At the summit of Jovis Tholus

At the summit of Jovis Tholus. Jovis Tholus is a volcano in the Tharsis region and is about 58 kilometers in diameter. Our image only shows a portion of the summit. HiRISE Picture of the Day archive [More at links]

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MARCI weather report, February 18-24, 2019

For the past week on Mars, dust storms and water ice clouds continued to crop up along the edge of the seasonal north polar ice cap. The plains of Amazonis, Chryse, and Utopia also experienced some local-scale dust lifting as … Continue reading

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