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Infrared and Radar Views of
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| Description |
This image composite contains a radar image taken during a February 2005 (T3) flyby, and overlaid are images from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken on Sept. 7, 2006, (T17) and Oct. 25, 2006 (T20). |
| Full Description |
This image composite contains a radar image taken during a February 2005 (T3) flyby, and overlaid are images from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken on Sept. 7, 2006, (T17) and Oct. 25, 2006 (T20). The thin strip is the infrared image taken on the inbound leg of the T20 flyby and crosses the radar image near an area with a small, crater-like feature. In the radar image a faint fan of material seems to originate at the crater, and the portion of the infrared image that crosses the faint fan shows both a large brightness contrast and very sharp boundaries. The fan-like deposit has such sharp boundaries and strong contrast with its surroundings that it supports the idea that the deposit seen in the radar images is a flow of material erupted from the small crater. This may be the strongest evidence yet of cryovolcanism on Titan. The infrared image was taken at a distance of 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the surface of Titan and resolves features as small as 400 meters (1,300 feet). The infrared images were taken at wavelengths of 1.3 microns shown in blue, 2 microns shown in green, and 5 microns shown in red. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona where this image was produced. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm . The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
December 12, 2006 |
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Iapetus' Equatorial Region -
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| Description |
Iapetus' Equatorial Region -- Labeled |
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Cassini made a close flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus on Sept. 10, 2007, and the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained these images during that event. These two images show a higher resolution version of the equatorial region shown in Tiny Grains on Iapetus. The equatorial region includes the equatorial bulge which shows no differences in these compositions compared to surrounding regions. The color image on the right shows the results of mapping for three components of Iapetus' surface: carbon dioxide that is trapped or adsorbed in the surface (red), water in the form of ice (green), and a newly-discovered effect due to trace amount of dark particles in the ice creating what scientists call Rayleigh scattering (blue). The Rayleigh scattering effect is the main reason why the Earth's sky appears blue. There is a complex transition zone from the dark region, on the right, which is high in carbon dioxide, to the more ice-rich region on the left. Some crater floors are filled with carbon dioxide-rich dark material. As the ice becomes cleaner to the left, the small dark particles become more scattered and increase the Rayleigh scattering effect, again indicative of less than 2 percent dark sub-0.5-micron particles. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is like a digital camera, but instead of using three colors, it makes images in 352 colors, or wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. The many wavelengths produce a continuous spectrum in each pixel, and these spectra measure how light is absorbed by different materials. By analyzing the absorptions expressed in each pixel, a map of the composition at each location on the moon can be constructed. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team home page is at: http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona /USGS |
| Date |
October 8, 2007 |
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| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
The solar system's largest moon, Ganymede, is captured here alongside the planet Jupiter in a color picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 3, 2000. Ganymede is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Both Ganymede and Titan have greater surface area than the entire Eurasian continent on our planet. Cassini was 26.5 million kilometers (16.5 million miles) from Ganymede when this image was taken. The smallest visible features are about 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) across. The bright area near the south (bottom) of Ganymede is Osiris, a large, relatively new crater surrounded by bright icy material ejected by the impact which created it. Elsewhere, Ganymede displays dark terrains that NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft have shown to be old and heavily cratered. The brighter terrains are younger and laced by grooves. Various kinds of grooved terrains have been seen on many icy moons in the solar system. These are believed to be the surface expressions of warm, pristine, water-rich materials that moved to the surface and froze. Ganymede has proven to be a fascinating world, the only moon known to have a magnetosphere, or magnetic environment, produced by a convecting metal core. The interaction of Ganymede's and Jupiter's magnetospheres may produce dazzling variations in the auroral glows in Ganymede's tenuous atmosphere of oxygen. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona For higher resolution, click here. |
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Sister Moons
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Dione and Tethys |
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Cassini offers this lovely comparison between two of Saturn's satellites, Dione and Tethys, which are similar in size but have very different surfaces. Extensive systems of bright fractures carve the surface of Dione (1,118 kilometers, or 695 miles across). The double-pronged feature Carthage Linea points toward the crater Turnus at the nine o'clock position near the terminator, and Palatine Linea runs toward the moon's bottom limb near the five o'clock position. In contrast, the surface of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) appears brighter and more heavily cratered. The large crater Penelope is near the eastern limb. The huge rift zone Ithaca Chasma, which is 3 to 5 kilometers (2 to 3 miles) deep and extends for about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from north to south across Tethys, is hidden in shadow just beyond the terminator. For comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) deep, and about 450 kilometers (280 miles) long. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 7, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (908,000 miles) from Tethys and 1.6 million kilometers (994,000 miles) from Dione. The image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel on Tethys, and 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel on Dione. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
April 18, 2005 |
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Titan Crater in Three Views
| Description |
Titan Crater in Three Views |
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This three-panel image shows one of Titan's most prominent impact craters in an infrared-wavelength image (left), radar image (center) and in the false-color image (right). The Cassini radar imaged this crater during Cassini's third flyby of Titan, on Feb. 15, 2005, (see Impact Crater with Ejecta Blanket). The crater, located at 16 degrees west, 11 degrees north, is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) in diameter and is surrounded beyond that by a blanket of material thrown out of the crater during impact. In radar, brighter surfaces mean rougher terrains, or else terrains tilted toward the radar. Two Titan flybys later, on April 16, the visual infrared mapping spectrometer on Cassini obtained images of the same crater. The panel on the left is an image at the 2.0 micron wavelength, showing that the crater has a dark floor and a small bright area in the center. The crater is surrounded by bright material, which has a very faint halo slightly darker than the surrounding dark material. Compare the radar image with the visual infrared mapping spectrometer image. Both the crater and the blanket of surrounding material (called ejecta) are bright at radar wavelengths, in the infrared, the crater itself is dark and this blanket of material is quite bright. In radar, the faint halo surrounding the blanket of material is quite similar in appearance to the rest of the ejecta blanket. The right hand panel is a false-color visual infrared mapping spectrometer image of the crater at lower resolution. It shows the faint halo to be slightly bluer than surrounding material. That the material is bluer than its surroundings, while also being darker, suggests that the faint halo is somewhat different in composition. This suggests that the composition of Titan's upper crust varies with depth, and various materials were excavated when the crater was formed. The same structure appearing so different to different instruments illustrates the importance of multiple instruments studying such phenomena. The Cassini spacecraft, being the most interdisciplinary spacecraft ever flown, strongly embodies such an approach. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument team is based at JPL, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For more information about the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
April 27, 2005 |
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Red Spot on Titan
| Description |
Image of an unusual bright, red spot on Titan |
| Full Description |
The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer instrument onboard Cassini has found an unusual bright, red spot on Titan. This dramatic color (but not true color) image was taken during the April 16, 2005, encounter with Titan. North is to the right. In the center it shows the dark lanes of the "H"-shaped feature (see Titan's surface revealed) discovered from Earth and first seen by Cassini last July shortly after it arrived in the Saturn system. At the southwestern edge of the "H" feature, near Titan's limb (edge), is an area roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) across. That area is 50 percent brighter, when viewed using light with a wavelength of 5 microns, than the bright continent-sized area known as Xanadu (see Eyes on Xanadu). Xanadu extends to the northwest of the bright spot, beyond the limb (edge) of Titan in this image. Near the terminator (the line between day and night) at the bottom of this image is the 80 kilometer (50 mile) crater that has been previously seen by the Cassini radar, imaging cameras, and the visual and infrared spectrometer (see Titan Crater in Three Views). At wavelengths shorter than 5 microns, the spot is not unusually bright. The strange spectral character of this enigmatic feature has left the team with four possibilities for its source: the spot could be a surface coloration, a mountain range, a cloud, or a hot spot. The hot spot hypothesis will be tested during a Titan flyby on July 2, 2006, when the visual and infrared spectrometer will take nighttime images of this area. If it is hot, it will glow at night. This color image was created from separate images in the 1.7 micron (blue), 2.0 micron (green), and 5.0 micron (red) spectral windows through which it is possible to see Titan's surface. The yellow that humans see has a wavelength of about 0.5 microns, so the colors shown are between 3 and 10 times more red than the human eye can detect. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional information on the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit:NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
May 25, 2005 |
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An Infrared Map of Titan
| Description |
This global infrared map of Titan was composed with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last two Titan flybys, on Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 15, 2006. |
| Full Description |
This global infrared map of Titan was composed with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last two Titan flybys, on Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 15, 2006. The map was constructed from false-color images taken at wavelengths of 1.6 microns shown in blue, 2.01 microns in green, and 5 microns in red. All three images are of reflected sunlight. The viewing geometry of the December flyby is roughly on the opposite hemisphere of the flyby in January. There are several important features to note in the map. First, the globe of Titan exhibits two major types of terrain, one is very bright, and a darker one seems to be concentrated near the equator. Titan also has two very bright regions, the large one known as Tui Reggio, located at approximately 25 degrees south latitude and 130 degrees west longitude, and the other as Hotei Arcus, at 20 degrees south latitude and 80 degrees west longitude. These regions are thought to be surface deposits, probably of volcanic origin, and may be water and/or carbon dioxide frozen from the volcanic vapor. The western margins of Tui Reggio have a complex flow-like structure consistent with eruptive phenomena. The reddish feature at the south pole is Titan's south polar cloud system, which was very bright during the December flyby. The impact crater Sinlap is clearly visible at approximately latitude 13 degrees north and longitude 16 degrees west. The poorly resolved regions between longitudes of 30 degrees and 150 degrees east will be filled in during subsequent flybys. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. *Credit:* NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
February 10, 2006 |
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Martian Meteorite
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Martian Meteorite |
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found an iron meteorite, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel according to readings from spectrometers on the rover. Only a small fraction of the meteorites fallen on Earth are similarly metal-rich. Others are rockier. As an example, the meteorite that blasted the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona is similar in composition. "This is a huge surprise, though maybe it shouldn't have been," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. The meteorite, dubbed "Heat Shield Rock," sits near debris of Opportunity's heat shield on the surface of Meridiani Planum, a cratered flatland that has been Opportunity's home since the robot landed on Mars nearly one year ago. "I never thought we would get to use our instruments on a rock from someplace other than Mars," Squyres said. "Think about where an iron meteorite comes from: a destroyed planet or planetesimal that was big enough to differentiate into a metallic core and a rocky mantle." Rover-team scientists are wondering whether some rocks that Opportunity has seen atop the ground surface are rocky meteorites. "Mars should be hit by a lot more rocky meteorites than iron meteorites," Squyres said. "We've been seeing lots of cobbles out on the plains, and this raises the possibility that some of them may in fact be meteorites. We may be investigating some of those in coming weeks. The key is not what we'll learn about meteorites -- we have lots of meteorites on Earth -- but what the meteorites can tell us about Meridiani Planum." The numbers of exposed meteorites could be an indication of whether the plain is gradually eroding away or being built up. NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Garvin said, "Exploring meteorites is a vital part of NASA's scientific agenda, and discovering whether there are storehouses of them on Mars opens new research possibilities, including further incentives for robotic and then human-based sample-return missions. Mars continues to provide unexpected science 'gold,' and our rovers have proven the value of mobile exploration with this latest finding." Initial observation of Heat Shield Rock from a distance with Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer suggested a metallic composition and raised speculation last week that it was a meteorite. The rover drove close enough to use its Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers, confirming the meteorite identification over the weekend. Opportunity and Spirit successfully completed their primary three-month missions on Mars in April 2004. NASA has extended their missions twice because the rovers have remained in good condition to continue exploring Mars longer than anticipated. They have found geological evidence of past wet environmental conditions that might have, been hospitable to life. Opportunity has driven a total of 2.10 kilometers (1.30 miles). Minor mottling from dust has appeared in images from the rover's rear hazard-identification camera since Opportunity entered the area of its heat-shield debris, said Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., rover project manager. The rover team plans to begin driving Opportunity south toward a circular feature called "Vostok" within about a week. Spirit has driven a total of 4.05 kilometers (2.52 miles). It has been making slow progress uphill toward a ridge on "Husband Hill" inside Gusev Crater. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Victoria Crater' at Meridian
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| title |
Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum |
| date |
10.06.2006 |
| description |
This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows "Victoria crater," an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. The floor of the crater is occupied by a striking field of sand dunes. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating at Meridiani Planum. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria crater, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). The rover can be seen in this image, at roughly the "ten o'clock" position along the rim of the crater. This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the HiRISE camera using its red filter and blue-green filter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mroor http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Gullies with Characteristics
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Gullies with Characteristics of Water-Carved Channels |
| description |
False-color image of gully channels in a crater in the southern highlands of Mars, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The gullies emanating from the rocky cliffs near the crater's rim (upper left) show meandering and braided patterns typical of water-carved channels. North is approximately up and illumination is from the left, scale, 26 centimeters per pixel. A link to the full HiRISE image that includes this view is online at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_003583_1425 Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Meteor Crater
| title |
Meteor Crater |
| description |
Meteor Crater is one of the youngest and best-preserved impact craters on Earth. The crater formed roughly 50,000 years ago when a 30-meter-wide, iron-rich meteor weighing 100,000 tons struck the Arizona desert at an estimated 20 kilometers per second. The resulting explosion exceeded the combined force of today's nuclear arsenals and created a 1.1-kilometer-wide, 200-meter-deep crater. Meteor Crater is a simple crater since it has no central peak or rim terraces. The crater formed in layered Paleozoic age sedimentary rocks, some of which are exposed in the nearby Grand Canyon. These rocks have been uplifted and in some cases overturned at the crater's raised rim. Debris sliding and subsequent erosion have partially filled the bottom of the crater with minor amounts of rim material and sediment. The heavily cratered history of the Moon indicates that Earth also experienced many impact events early in its history. The processes of erosion and plate tectonics have combined to erase nearly all Earth's craters. To date, only about 150 impact craters have been identified on Earth, and most of those are severely eroded or buried by later rock units. The origin of this classic, simple meteorite impact crater was long the subject of controversy. The discovery of fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite, including fragments within the breccia deposits that partially fill the structure, and a range of shock metamorphic features in the target sandstone proved its impact origin. Target rocks include Paleozoic carbonates and sandstones, these rocks were overturned just outside the rim during ejection. The hummocky deposits just beyond the rim are remnants of the ejecta blanket. This aerial view shows the dramatic expression of the crater in the arid landscape. The crater is named for Daniel Moreau Barringer, a mining entrepeneur who championed an impact origin for the crater early in the 20th. *Image Credit*: D. Roddy (U.S. Geological Survey), Lunar and Planetary Institute |
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Callisto's Har Crater
| title |
Callisto's Har Crater |
| date |
11.04.1997 |
| description |
This image shows a heavily cratered region near Callisto's equator. It was taken by the Galileo spacecraft's Solid-State Imaging System on its ninth orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the image. The 105-kilometer double ring crater in the center of the image is named Har. Har displays an unusual rounded mound on its floor. The origin of the mound is unclear but probably involves uplift of ice-rich materials from below, either as a "rebound" immediately following the impact that formed the crater or as a later process. Har is older than the prominent 41-kilometer crater superposed on its western rim. The large crater partially visible in the northeast corner of the image is called Tindr. Chains of secondary craters (craters formed from the impact of materials thrown out of the main crater during an impact) originating from Tindr crosscut the eastern rim of Har. The image, centered at 3.30S latitude and 357.90W longitude, covers an area of 245 kilometers by 230 kilometers. The Sun illuminates the scene from the west (left). The smallest distinguishable features in the image are about 294 meters across. This image was obtained on June 25, 1997, when Galileo was 14,080 kilometers from Callisto. *Image Credit*: Arizona State University |
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Apollo 11 Landing Site
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Apollo 11 Landing Site |
| description |
The landing site was selected in a smooth mare area primarily for reasons of mission safety. This is an Earth-based telescopic view. The arrow points to the landing site in the southern portion of Mare Tranquillitatis. The two large craters near the middle of the lower margin of the photograph are Theophilus and Cyrillus. The rim of Theophilus Crater truncates (cuts across) the rim of Cyrillus Crater, indicating that Theophilus is the younger crater. Ejecta from Theophilus may be present in the vicinity of the Apollo 11 landing site. Craters in the vicinity of the landing site include Moltke (the bright-rayed crater to the lower right of the arrow), Sabine (left of arrow) and Maskelyne (upper right of arrow). *Image Credit*: NASA, U.S. Air Force Photographic Lunar Atlas and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona |
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Callisto Landslides
| title |
Callisto Landslides |
| date |
12.10.1997 |
| description |
Galileo images of the surface of Jupiter's moon Callisto have revealed large landslide deposits within two large impact craters seen in the right side of this image. The two landslides are about 3 to 3.5 kilometers in length. They occurred when material from the crater wall failed under the influence of gravity, perhaps aided by seismic disturbances from nearby impacts. These deposits are interesting because they traveled several kilometers from the crater wall in the absence of an atmosphere or other fluids that might have lubricated the flow. This could indicate that the surface material on Callisto is very fine-grained, and perhaps is being "fluffed" by electrostatic forces that allowed the landslide debris to flow extended distances in the absence of an atmosphere. This image was acquired on September 16, 1997, by the Solid-State Imaging System onboard the Galileo spacecraft during it's tenth orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the image, with the Sun illuminating the scene from the right. The center of this image is located near 25.30N latitude, 141.30W longitude. The image, which is 55 kilometers by 44 kilometers across, was acquired at a resolution of 100 meters per picture element. *Image Credit*: Arizona State University |
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Europa Impact
| title |
Europa Impact |
| date |
04.04.1997 |
| description |
This feature on Jupiter's moon Europa was seen as a dark, diffuse circular patch on a previous Galileo global image of Europa's leading hemisphere. The bulls-eye pattern appears to be a 140-kilometer-wide impact scar (about the size of the island of Hawai'i) that formed as the surface fractured minutes after a mountain-sized asteroid or comet slammed into the satellite. This approximately 214-kilometer-wide picture is the product of three images that have been processed in false color to enhance shapes and compositions. North is toward the top of this picture, which is illuminated from sunlight coming from the west. This color composite reveals a sequence of events, that have modified the surface of Europa. The earliest event was the impact that formed the Tyre structure at 340N latitude and 146.50W longitude. This impact was followed by the formation of the reddish lines superposed on Tyre. The red color designates areas that are probably a dirty water-ice mixture. The fine blue-green lines crossing the region from west to east appear to be ridges that formed after the crater. The images were taken on April 4, 1997, at a resolution of 595 meters per picture element and a range of 29,000 kilometers. The images were taken by the Galileo spacecraft's Solid-State Imaging System. *Image Credit*: University of Arizona |
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Callisto Impact Craters
| title |
Callisto Impact Craters |
| date |
12.07.1998 |
| description |
This composite of Galileo spacecraft images of Jupiter's icy moon Callisto combines data from two orbits showing several types of impact craters. North is to the top of the picture, the Sun illuminates the surface from the east. The global image on the right shows one of the largest impact structures on Callisto, the Asgard multiring structure located near 300N latitude, 1420W longitude. The Asgard structure is approximately 1700 kilometers across and consists of a bright central zone surrounded by discontinuous rings. The rings include degraded ridges near the central zone and troughs at the outer margin, which resulted from deformation of the icy crust following impact. Smaller impacts have smashed into Callisto after the formation of Asgard. The young, bright-rayed crater Burr located on the northern part of Asgard is about 75 kilometers across. Galileo images show a third type of impact crater in this image, a dome crater named Doh, located in the bright central plains of Asgard. Doh (left image) is about 55 kilometers in diameter, while the dome is about 25 kilometers across. Dome craters contain a central mound instead of a bowl-shaped depression or central mountain (peak) typically seen in larger impact craters. This type of crater could represent penetration into a slushy zone beneath the surface of the Asgard impact. The global image on the right was taken on November 4, 1996, at a distance of 111,900 kilometers by the Solid-State Imaging Camera onboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its third orbit around Jupiter. The image on the left was obtained at a resolution of 90 meters per picture element on September 16, 1997, during Galileo's tenth orbit when the spacecraft was less than 9500 kilometers from Callisto. *Image Credit*: Arizona State University |
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High-Resolution MOC Image of
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| title |
High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos |
| date |
08.19.1998 |
| description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. This image shows a close-up of the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Individual boulders are visible on the near rim of the crater, and are presumed to be ejecta blocks from the impact that formed Stickney. Some of these boulders are enormous - more than 50 meters (160 feet) across. Also crossing at and near the rim of Stickney are shallow, elongated depressions called grooves. This crater is nearly half the size of Phobos and these grooves may be fractures caused by its formation. Phobos was observed by both the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). This image is one of the highest resolution images (4 meters or 13 feet per picture element or pixel) ever obtained of the Martian satellite. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. *Image Credit*: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Lab) and NASA |
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Gullies in Sirenum Terra, Ma
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| title |
Gullies in Sirenum Terra, Mars |
| date |
10.03.2006 |
| description |
This enhanced-color view shows gullies in an unnamed crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. It is a sub-image from a larger view imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Oct. 3, 2006. This scene is about 254 meters (about 830 feet) wide. The upper and left regions of this scene are in shadow, yet color variations are still apparent. The high signal to noise ratio of the HiRISE camera allows for colors to be distinguished in shadows. This allows dark features to be identified as true albedo features versus topographical features. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona |
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Evidence for Recent Liquid W
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| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars |
| Full Description |
Newton Crater is a large basin formed by an asteroid impact that probably occurred more than 3 billion years ago. It is approximately 287 kilometers (178 miles) across. The picture shown here (top) highlights the north wall of a specific, smaller crater located in the southwestern quarter of Newton Crater (above). The crater of interest was also formed by an impact, it is about 7 km (4.4 mi) across, which is about 7 times bigger than the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona in North America. The north wall of the small crater has many narrow gullies eroded into it. These are hypothesized to have been formed by flowing water and debris flows. Debris transported with the water created lobed and finger-like deposits at the base of the crater wall where it intersects the floor (bottom center top image). Many of the finger-like deposits have small channels indicating that a liquid, most likely water, flowed in these areas. Hundreds of individual water and debris flow events might have occurred to create the scene shown here. Each outburst of water from higher up on the crater slopes would have constituted a competition between evaporation, freezing, and gravity. The individual deposits at the ends of channels in this MOC image mosaic were used to get a rough estimate of the minimum amount of water that might be involved in each flow event. This is done first by assuming that the deposits are like debris flows on Earth. In a debris flow, no less than about 10% (and no more than 30%) of their volume is water. Second, the volume of an apron deposit is estimated by measuring the area covered in the MOC image and multiplying it by a conservative estimate of thickness, 2 meters (6.5 feet). For a flow containing only 10% water, these estimates conservatively suggest that about 2.5 million liters (660,000 gallons) of water are involved in each event, this is enough to fill about 7 community-sized swimming pools or enough to supply 20 people with their water needs for a year. The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) high resolution view is located near 41.1S, 159.8W and is a mosaic of three different pictures acquired between January and May 2000. The MOC scene is illuminated from the left, north is up. |
| Date |
06/22/2000 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
High-Resolution MOC Image of
…
| Title |
High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos |
| Description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. This image shows a close-up of the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Individual boulders are visible on the near rim of the crater, and are presumed to be ejecta blocks from the impact that formed Stickney. Some of these boulders are enormous - more than 50 meters (160 feet) across. Also crossing at and near the rim of Stickney are shallow, elongated depressions called grooves. This crater is nearly half the size of Phobos and these grooves may be fractures caused by its formation. Phobos was observed by both the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). This image is one of the highest resolution images (4 meters or 13 feet per picture element or pixel) ever obtained of the Martian satellite. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
| Date |
08.19.1998 |
|
High-Resolution MOC Image of
…
| Title |
High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos with Graphics Overlay |
| Description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. The white boxes indicate the location of the subframes or close-ups: that on the left is C and that on the right is D. Each box is 1.92 kilometers (1.19 miles) square. The image shows several new features of this lumpy moon -- features that are associated with the prominent crater seen in the upper left quarter of the image. This is the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Individual boulders are visible on the near rim of the crater (D), and are presumed to be ejecta blocks from the impact that formed Stickney. Some of these boulders are enormous - more than 50 meters (160 feet) across. Also crossing at and near the rim of Stickney are shallow, elongated depressions called grooves. This crater is nearly half the size of Phobos and these grooves may be fractures caused by its formation. The far wall of the crater shows lighter and darker streaks going down the slopes (C). Phobos was observed by both the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). This image is one of the highest resolution images (4 meters or 13 feet per picture element or pixel) ever obtained of the Martian satellite. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
| Date |
08.19.1998 |
|
High-Resolution MOC Image of
…
| Title |
High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos' Face |
| Description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. The minimum distance between the spacecraft and Phobos was 1,080 kilometers (671 miles). Phobos was observed by both the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). This image is one of the highest resolution images (4 meters or 13 feet per picture element or pixel) ever obtained of the Martian satellite. The image shows several new features of this lumpy moon -- features that are associated with the prominent crater seen in the upper left quarter of the image. This is the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Individual boulders are visible on the near rim of the crater (D), and are presumed to be ejecta blocks from the impact that formed Stickney. Some of these boulders are enormous - more than 50 meters (160 feet) across. Also crossing at and near the rim of Stickney are shallow, elongated depressions called grooves. This crater is nearly half the size of Phobos and these grooves may be fractures caused by its formation. The far wall of the crater shows lighter and darker streaks going down the slopes (C). The presence of material of different brightness on the far crater slopes and in some of the grooves shows that the satellite is heterogeneous (that is, it is made of a mixture of different types of materials). The motion of debris down slopes is guided by gravity, which is only about 1/1000th that of the Earth -- e.g., a 68-kilogram (150- pound) person would weigh only about 57 grams (2 ounces) on Phobos. Previous images from the Viking spacecraft in the 1970's were not of sufficient resolution to show the effectiveness of gravity on Phobos in moving material down slopes. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
| Date |
08.19.1998 |
|
High-Resolution MOC Image of
…
| Title |
High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos' Stickney Crater |
| Description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. This image is a close-up of the far wall of the Stickney crater, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter, that is the largest crater on Phobos. This image shows lighter and darker streaks going down the slopes (C). The presence of material of different brightness on the far crater slopes and in some of the grooves shows that the satellite is heterogeneous (that is, it is made of a mixture of different types of materials). The motion of debris down slopes is guided by gravity, which is only about 1/1000th that of the Earth -- e.g., a 68-kilogram (150-pound) person would weigh only about 57 grams (2 ounces) on Phobos. Phobos was observed by both the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). This image is one of the highest resolution images (4 meters or 13 feet per picture element or pixel) ever obtained of the Martian satellite. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
| Date |
08.19.1998 |
|
Voyager 2 Color Image of Enc
…
| Title |
Voyager 2 Color Image of Enceladus, Almost Full Disk |
| Description |
This color Voyager 2 image mosaic shows the water-ice-covered surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn's icy moons. Enceladus' diameter of just 500 km would fit across the state of Arizona, yet despite its small size Enceladus exhibits one of the most interesting surfaces of all the icy satellites. Enceladus reflects about 90% of the incident sunlight (about like fresh-fallen snow), placing it among the most reflective objects in the Solar System. Several geologic terrains have superposed crater densities that span a factor of at least 500, thereby indicating huge differences in the ages of these terrains. It is possible that the high reflectivity of Enceladus' surface results from continuous deposition of icy particles from Saturn's E-ring, which in fact may originate from icy volcanoes on Enceladus' surface. Some terrains are dominated by sinuous mountain ridges from 1 to 2 km high (3300 to 6600 feet), whereas other terrains are scarred by linear cracks, some of which show evidence for possible sideways fault motion such as that of California's infamous San Andreas fault. Some terrains appear to have formed by separation of icy plates along cracks, and other terrains are exceedingly smooth at the resolution of this image. The implication carried by Enceladus' surface is that this tiny ice ball has been geologically active and perhaps partially liquid in its interior for much of its history. The heat engine that powers geologic activity here is thought to be elastic deformation caused by tides induced by Enceladus' orbital motion around Saturn and the motion of another moon, Dione. |
| Date |
03.01.1990 |
|
Landscape West of Bosporos R
…
| title |
Landscape West of Bosporos Rupes |
| Description |
This image was taken in the mid-latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere near the giant Argyre impact basin. It is located just to the west of a prominent scarp known as Bosporos Rupes. The left side of the image shows cratered plains. Some of the craters are heavily mantled and indistinct, whereas others exhibit sharp rims and dramatic topography. The largest crater in this half of the image is about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) wide. Mounds and ridges, which may be remnants of an ice-rich deposit, are visible on its floor. Three sinuous valleys occupy the center of the image. Valleys such as these were first observed in data returned by the NASA Mariner 9 spacecraft, which reached Mars in 1971. The right side of the image shows part of an impact crater that is approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. The furrowed appearance of the crater's inner wall suggests that it has been extensively modified, perhaps by landslides and flowing water. Like other craters in the area, the floor of this crater has a rough and dissected texture that is often attributed to the loss of ice-rich material. Image AEB_000001_0050_Red was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 24, 2006. The image is centered at 40.64 degrees south latitude, 303.49 degrees east longitude. The image is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,044 kilometers (1,270 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.04 meters (6.69 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 6.1 meters (20 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 40.90 kilometers (25.41 miles) or 20,081 pixels wide and 11.22 kilometers (6.97 miles) or 5,523 pixels high. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:30 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 81.4 degrees, thus the sun was about 8.6 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
|
Landscape Northeast of Halle
…
| title |
Landscape Northeast of Halley Crater |
| Description |
. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, This image shows a landscape west of Mars' Argyre impact basin and northeast of Halley Crater. The large but faint circular feature near the center of the image is an unnamed impact crater about 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) in diameter. It has been all but erased by geological (and probably ice-related) processes. In fact, the majority of impact craters in this image have been modified from their original shapes, some undoubtedly beyond recognition. Only a few small craters remain pristine. The most prevalent surface type in this image is rough, dissected terrain, which is characterized by a complex pattern of knobs, pits, ridges and valleys. In places the rough terrain has been covered by a younger material that appears flat, smooth and nearly featureless. The smooth material may have been emplaced as muddy or icy debris. It filled low-lying areas (most notably craters) and surrounded higher features, preserving islands of rough terrain. Wind-formed dunes have formed atop some of the smooth material, and diagonal streaks on the right side of the image may be due to the winds. Images such as this show the importance of water (liquid and/or ice), wind, and impacts in shaping the surface of Mars. Image AEB_000001_0100_Red was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 24, 2006. The image is centered at 47.14 degrees south latitude, 302.00 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 1,699 kilometers (1,056 miles). At this distance the image scale is 1.70 meter (5.58 feet) per pixel in the center portion of the image, so objects as small as 5.1 meter (16.7 feet) are resolved. In the side regions the pixels were binned 2x2 to a scale of 3.4 meters (11.2 feet) per pixel. The camera has a total of 10 red-bandpass CCD detectors, and in this image the first 4 CCDs on the left and the last 3 on the right were binned 2x2, while 3 in the middle returned data at full resolution. In total this image is 34.08 kilometers (21.18 miles) or 20,081 pixels wide and 8.50 kilometers (5.28 miles) or 5,164 pixels high. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:27 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 84.5 degrees, thus the sun was about 5.5 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ] |
|
First HiRISE image of Mars
| title |
First HiRISE image of Mars |
| Description |
. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, The first image of Mars by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a story of geologic change in the eastern Bosporos Planum region. Old stream valleys cut into the flanks of a gently sloping mountain range in the center of the image. Layers of smooth-textured deposits have mantled the stream valleys and many impact craters. Wind and sublimation of water or carbon dioxide ice have partially eroded patches of the smooth-textured deposits, leaving behind areas of layered and hummocky terrain. A prominent ridge that extends from the top to the bottom of the image dominates the scene. This ridge formed above a thrust fault, a type of fault that occurs when the surface of a planet is compressed. On planetary surfaces, such fault-related ridges are termed "wrinkle ridges." They are commonly observed on Mars, as well as on Earth's moon and on Venus and Mercury. The wrinkle ridge imaged here is named Ogygis Rupes. This wrinkle ridge has deformed several valleys and impact craters. Throughout the scene, geologically young sand dunes are present within stream valleys and some impact craters. The area is also sprinkled with many small young impact craters, which are distinguished by sharp crater rims and bright or dark halos of ejected material. This image demonstrates how a single HiRISE image can capture a multitude of geologic processes. Image AEB_000001_0000_Red was taken by HiRISE on March 24, 2006. The image is centered at 33.65 degrees south latitude, 305.07 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,493 kilometers (1,549 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.49 meters (8.17 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 49.92 kilometers (31.02 miles) or 20,081 pixels wide and 23.66 kilometers (14.70 miles) or 9,523 pixels long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:33 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 78 degrees, thus the sun was 12 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ] |
|
Twilight Imaging of Kepler C
…
| title |
Twilight Imaging of Kepler Crater Floor |
| Description |
This image of the floor of Kepler crater in early morning twilight highlights the quality of images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera even under extremely minimal lighting conditions. At the time that this image was acquired, the sun had just barely risen over the horizon. This faint illumination reveals a terrain dotted by numerous exhumed impact craters. These impact craters once dominated the landscape of this region until they were buried under a blanket of soil. Subsequent wind action and perhaps sublimation of subsurface water and carbon-dioxide ice has etched pits and grooves into the blanket of soil, revealing the older impact craters below. These exhumed impact craters can be recognized as circular depressions or plateaus. Also present in this scene are multitudes of dunes that have formed as sand has blown across the terrain. Dunes have accumulated in depressions, such as the pits and grooves associated with the exhumed impact craters, as well as on the floors of some of the larger craters. Image AEB_000002_0100_Red was taken by HiRISE camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 25, 2006. The image is centered at 47.14 degrees south latitude, 142.90 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 1,694 kilometers (1,053 miles). Because the image was acquired by mixing the resolution levels of HiRISE detectors, the scale of the image is 6.76 meters (22.18 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 27.04 meters (88.71 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 33.88 kilometers (21.05 miles) or 5,017 pixels wide and 37.18 kilometers (23.10 miles) or 5,636 pixels long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:25 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 85.1 degrees, thus the sun was about 4.9 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 30 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
|
Sample of Mid-latitude South
…
| title |
Sample of Mid-latitude Southern Highlands |
| Description |
http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, This image shows terrain northeast of Martz Crater in the southern highlands of Mars. It is a landscape dominated by impact craters, scarps and ridges. The plethora of craters and the overprinting of younger craters on older craters indicate that this is an ancient surface. Curvilinear ridges called "wrinkle ridges" are common landforms on Mars. They form when layers of rock and sediment break and fold under compression. Multiple wrinkle ridges are captured in this image, the most prominent of which is a curving structure oriented approximately north-south. A 2.8-kilometer-wide (1.7-mile-wide) impact crater is superimposed on this north-south wrinkle ridge. Gullies, perhaps carved by water or muddy debris, are visible inside this crater. They are partly in shadow, but can be shown clearly by adjusting the contrast of the full-resolution image. Several of the smaller craters in this image contain dune fields, which attest to the presence of wind-blown sediments. In the lower portion of the image a few cliffs or scarps can be seen. While their origin is uncertain, they may have formed by some combination of flowing water and mass wasting. If one looks carefully at this image, it is possible to find horizontal blurred zones about 100 pixels tall. During these times the spacecraft was executing a test of how much the motion of another instrument would shake the spacecraft. These blurred regions also introduce geometric distortions, so the match between the three CCD images utilized for this observation is sometimes poor. The MRO spacecraft includes a high-stability mode that should minimize these problems. Image AEB_000002_0000_Red was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 25, 2006. The image is centered at 33.66 degrees south latitude, 145.97 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,485 kilometers (1,544 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.49 meters (8.17 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 15.01 kilometers (9.33 miles) or 6,045 pixels wide and 57.27 kilometers (35.59 miles) or 23,024 pixels long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:30 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 78.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 11.3 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 30 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: |
|
Gusev Crater
| title |
Gusev Crater |
| Description |
This mosaic of nighttime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. Variations in nighttime temperatures are due to differences in the abundance of rocky materials that retain their heat at night and stay relatively warm (bright). Fine grained dust and sand (dark) cools off more rapidly at night. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. 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 |
|
Western Arcadia Planitia
| title |
Western Arcadia Planitia |
| Description |
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 |
|
Gusev Crater
| title |
Gusev Crater |
| Description |
This mosaic of daytime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The daytime temperatures range from approximately minus 45 degrees C (black) to minus 5 degrees C (white). The temperature differences in these daytime images are due primarily to lighting effects, where sunlit slopes are warm (bright) and shadowed slopes are cool (dark). Gusev crater is a potential landing site for the Mars Exploration Rovers. The large ancient river channel of Ma'Adim that once flowed into Gusev can be seen at the top of the mosaic. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. 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 |
|
Odyssey/ Becquerel
| title |
Odyssey/ Becquerel |
| Description |
These images from Mars Odyssey look at the Becquerel crater in different lights -- visible, daytime infrared and nighttime infrared. The daytime images (left and center) were acquired on March 28, 2002 and the nighttime image (right) was acquired on March 2, 2002, by the thermal emission imaging system aboard Mars Odyssey. Thermal infrared is the wavelength range associated with heat. Looking at the Martian surface in the infrared wavelengths allows scientists to identify and distinguish bedrock from sand or dust covered areas. The Becquerel deposit is relatively bright in the visible wavelengths. Its surface has been scoured by windblown sand to produce the ridged topography seen in the visible image, which spans an 18-kilometer (11 mile)-wide portion of the deposit. Dark sand is seen in the lower right of the visible image. This same scene in the 32-kilometer (20 mile)-wide daytime infrared image looks remarkably similar to a photographic negative of the visible image due to the effects of solar heating. Darker tones represent cooler surfaces, brighter tones are warmer ones. During the day, visibly dark surfaces heat up much more efficiently than bright surfaces. The relatively bright sediments of the mound reflect more solar energy than the darker sand, allowing the mound to stay cooler than the sand. In the nighttime infrared image, the mound and the sand are warmer than their surroundings. The dark portions of the image represent cold surfaces that are covered in dust particles. Dust does not retain heat during the cold Martian night and quickly gives up any heat received during the day. Sand particles, because they are larger than dust particles, are able to retain heat better, producing the brighter swath around the mound. The infrared image has a resolution of 100 meters (328 feet) per pixel and is 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide. The visible image has a resolution of 18 meters per pixel and is approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) wide. The images are centered at 21.4 degrees north latitude and 351.8 degrees east longitude. 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 developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey 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 |
|
Odyssey/White Rock
| title |
Odyssey/White Rock |
| Description |
These Mars Odyssey images show the "White Rock" feature on Mars in both infrared (left) and visible (right) wavelengths. The images were acquired simultaneously on March 11, 2002. The box shows where the visible image is located in the infrared image. "White Rock" is the unofficial name for this unusual landform that was first observed during the Mariner 9 mission in the early 1970's. The variations in brightness in the infrared image are due to differences in surface temperature, where dark is cool and bright is warm. The dramatic differences between the infrared and visible views of White Rock are the result of solar heating. The relatively bright surfaces observed at visible wavelengths reflect more solar energy than the darker surfaces, allowing them to stay cooler and thus they appear dark in the infrared image. The new thermal emission imaging system data will help to address the long standing question of whether the White Rock deposit was produced in an ancient crater lake or by dry processes of volcanic or wind deposition. The infrared image has a resolution of 100 meters (328 feet) per pixel and is 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide. The visible image has a resolution of 18 meters per pixel and is approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) wide. The images are centered at 8.2 degrees south latitude and 24.9 degrees east longitude. 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 developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey 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 |
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Martian Dunes in Infrared
| title |
Martian Dunes in Infrared |
| Description |
This collage of six images taken by the camera system on NASA's Mars Odyssey, shows examples of the daytime temperature patterns of martian dunes seen by the infrared camera. The dunes can be seen in this daytime image because of the temperature differences between the sunlit (warm and bright) and shadowed (cold and dark) slopes of the dunes. The temperatures in each image vary, but typically range from approximately -35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) to -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit). Each image covers an area approximately 32 by 32 kilometers (20 by 20 miles) and was acquired using the infrared Band 9, centered at 12.6 micrometers. Clockwise from the upper left, these images are: (a) Russel crater, 54 degrees south latitude, 13 degrees east longitude, (b) Kaiser crater. 45 degrees south latitude, 19 degrees east longitude, (c) Rabe crater, 43 south latitude, 35 east longitude, (d) 22 north latitude, 66 degrees east longitude, (e) Proctor crater. 47 degrees south latitude, 30 degrees east longitude, (f) 61 degrees south latitude, 201 degrees east longitude. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and at Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University. |
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| Description |
A further zoom emphasizes a small, fresh crater about 350 meters (1,150 feet) in diameter near the center of the scene. The adjacent cliff contains numerous individual layers. An unusual set of small mesas, seen in the lower right part of the image, is being eroded from the polar layered material. The images making up this mosaic have a spatial resolution of 36 meters (118 feet) per pixel, allowing detection of features as small as 75 to 100 meters (246 to 328 feet) across. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. The thermal emission imaging system on Odyssey was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey 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 ### |
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Gusev Crater
PIA04261
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys
…
| Title |
Gusev Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic of nighttime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. Variations in nighttime temperatures are due to differences in the abundance of rocky materials that retain their heat at night and stay relatively warm (bright). Fine grained dust and sand (dark) cools off more rapidly at night. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. 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. |
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Iapetus' Equatorial Region
PIA10011
Saturn
Visual and Infrared Mapping
…
| Title |
Iapetus' Equatorial Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Click on image for larger annotated version Cassini made a close flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus on Sept. 10, 2007, and the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained these images during that event. These two images show a higher resolution version of the equatorial region shown in PIA10010 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10010 ]. The equatorial region includes the equatorial bulge which shows no differences in these compositions compared to surrounding regions. The color image on the right shows the results of mapping for three components of Iapetus' surface: carbon dioxide that is trapped or adsorbed in the surface (red), water in the form of ice (green), and a newly-discovered effect due to trace amount of dark particles in the ice creating what scientists call Rayleigh scattering (blue). The Rayleigh scattering effect is the main reason why the Earth's sky appears blue. There is a complex transition zone from the dark region, on the right, which is high in carbon dioxide, to the more ice-rich region on the left. Some crater floors are filled with carbon dioxide-rich dark material. As the ice becomes cleaner to the left, the small dark particles become more scattered and increase the Rayleigh scattering effect, again indicative of less than 2 percent dark sub-0.5-micron particles. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is like a digital camera, but instead of using three colors, it makes images in 352 colors, or wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. The many wavelengths produce a continuous spectrum in each pixel, and these spectra measure how light is absorbed by different materials. By analyzing the absorptions expressed in each pixel, a map of the composition at each location on the moon can be constructed. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu ]. |
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Iapetus' Equatorial Region
PIA10011
Saturn
Visual and Infrared Mapping
…
| Title |
Iapetus' Equatorial Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Click on image for larger annotated version Cassini made a close flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus on Sept. 10, 2007, and the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained these images during that event. These two images show a higher resolution version of the equatorial region shown in PIA10010 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10010 ]. The equatorial region includes the equatorial bulge which shows no differences in these compositions compared to surrounding regions. The color image on the right shows the results of mapping for three components of Iapetus' surface: carbon dioxide that is trapped or adsorbed in the surface (red), water in the form of ice (green), and a newly-discovered effect due to trace amount of dark particles in the ice creating what scientists call Rayleigh scattering (blue). The Rayleigh scattering effect is the main reason why the Earth's sky appears blue. There is a complex transition zone from the dark region, on the right, which is high in carbon dioxide, to the more ice-rich region on the left. Some crater floors are filled with carbon dioxide-rich dark material. As the ice becomes cleaner to the left, the small dark particles become more scattered and increase the Rayleigh scattering effect, again indicative of less than 2 percent dark sub-0.5-micron particles. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is like a digital camera, but instead of using three colors, it makes images in 352 colors, or wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. The many wavelengths produce a continuous spectrum in each pixel, and these spectra measure how light is absorbed by different materials. By analyzing the absorptions expressed in each pixel, a map of the composition at each location on the moon can be constructed. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu ]. |
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Asgard Multi-Ring Structure
…
PIA01634
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Asgard Multi-Ring Structure on Callisto |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic shows the Asgard multi-ring structure on Callisto, Jupiter's second largest icy moon. The Asgard structure [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00517 ], centered near 30 degrees north latitude, 142 degrees west longitude, is approximately 1700 km across (1,056 miles) and consists of a bright central zone surrounded by discontinuous rings. The rings are fractures that formed when Callisto's surface was struck by a large comet or asteroid. Previous analysis of Asgard identified three major zones: 1) interior bright plains in the center, 2) a zone of inward facing cliffs and, 3) a zone of discontinuous concentric troughs. The mosaic combines high resolution data of 88 meters per picture element (pixel) taken on the tenth orbit of the Galileo spacecraft around Jupiter in September 1997, with low resolution data of 1.1 kilometers (km) per pixel obtained on the third orbit in November 1996. The improved resolution of images obtained by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on board NASA's Galileo spacecraft allows for new insights into the Asgard multi-ring system. Galileo images show that the bright central plains includes a young dome crater, named Doh, located on its southwestern margin (at the top of the high resolution strip). Doh is about 50 km (30 miles) in diameter. Dome craters contain a central mound instead of a bowl shaped depression or the central mountain typically seen in craters. The inner rings of Asgard appear to be degraded ridges in the high resolution data, rather than inward-facing cliffs or scarps as previously interpreted from lower resolution images. In the outermost rings, dark non-ice material that slid down the walls of the troughs has made their floors darker than the surrounding cratered plains. North is to the top of the picture. The high resolution images were obtained with the clear filter of the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system when NASA's Galileo spacecraft was less than 9,500 kilometers from Callisto. There appears to be a diffuse darker stripe, beginning near the middle and continuing down the strip of higher resolution frames. This darkening is due to the processing used to place the higher resolution frames into the background context. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission or NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ]. |
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Gusev Crater
PIA04260
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys
…
| Title |
Gusev Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic of daytime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The daytime temperatures range from approximately minus 45 degrees C (black) to minus 5 degrees C (white). The temperature differences in these daytime images are due primarily to lighting effects, where sunlit slopes are warm (bright) and shadowed slopes are cool (dark). Gusev crater is a potential landing site for the Mars Exploration Rovers. The large ancient river channel of Ma'Adim that once flowed into Gusev can be seen at the top of the mosaic. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. 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. |
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A Chain of Impact Craters on
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PIA00514
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
A Chain of Impact Craters on Callisto |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A portion of a chain of impact craters on Jupiter's moon Callisto is seen in this image taken by the Galileo spacecraft on November 4, 1996. This crater chain on Callisto is believed to result from the impact of a split object, similar to the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 which smashed into Jupiter's atmosphere in July of 1994. This high-resolution view, taken by Galileo's solid state imaging television camera during its third orbit around Jupiter, is of Callisto's northern hemisphere at 35 degrees north, 46 degrees west, and covers an area of about eight miles (13 kilometers) across. The smallest visible crater is about 140 yards (130 meters) across. The image was taken at a range of 974 miles (1,567 kilometers). On a global scale, Callisto is heavily cratered, indicating the great age of its surface. At the scale of this image, it was anticipated that the surface would be heavily cratered as well, however, there is a surprising lack of small craters, suggesting that one or more processes have obliterated these and other small-scale features. For example, downslope movement of ice-rich debris could bury small craters. The bright slopes visible in this picture represent places where downslope movement has taken place, exposing fresh ice surfaces. The Galileo mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the Galileo mission home page on the World Wide Web at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo/ [ http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo/ ]. |
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Callisto Crater Chain Mosaic
PIA00549
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Callisto Crater Chain Mosaic |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic of three images shows an area within the Valhalla region on Jupiter's moon, Callisto. North is to the top of the mosaic and the Sun illuminates the surface from the left. The smallest details that can be discerned in this picture are knobs and small impact craters about 160 meters (175 yards) across. The mosaic covers an area approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) across. It shows part of a prominent crater chain located on the northern part of the Valhalla ring structure. Crater chains can form from the impact of material ejected from large impacts (forming secondary chains) or by the impact of a fragmented projectile, perhaps similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9 cometary impacts into Jupiter in July 1994. It is believed this crater chain was formed by the impact of a fragmented projectile. The images which form this mosaic were obtained by the solid state imaging system aboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft on Nov. 4, 1996 (Universal Time). Launched in October 1989, Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter on December 7, 1995. The spacecraft's mission is to conduct detailed studies of the giant planet, its largest moons and the Jovian magnetic environment. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web Galileo mission home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http:// www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo. |
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The Valhalla Multi-ring Stru
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PIA01649
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
The Valhalla Multi-ring Structure on Callisto |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
These images of Callisto, the outermost of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, reveal a surface characterized by impact craters. The global view (lower left) is dominated by a large bulls-eye feature, the Valhalla multi-ring structure, consisting of a bright inner region about 600 kilometers (370 miles) across. Valhalla's 4,000 kilometer(2,500 mile) diameter make it one of the largest impact features in the solar system. Callisto is 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) in diameter. In this global view, the sun illuminates the surface from near the center, in the same way a full moon is seen from Earth when illuminated by the sun. The image on the right shows part of Valhalla at moderate resolution. At this resolution, the surface is appears to be somewhat smooth, with a lack of numerous small impact craters. Valhalla's outer rings are clearly seen to consist of troughs which could be fractures in the crust which resulted from the impact. The bright central plains possibly were created by the excavation and ejection of "cleaner" ice or liquid water from beneath the surface, with a fluid-like massfilling the crater bowl after impact. North is to the top of the picture. For the moderate resolution view on the right, the sun illuminates the surface from the left and the resolution is approximately 400 meters per picture element. The images were obtained on June 25, 1997 by the solid state imaging (SSI)system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft at a range of about 40,000 kilometers(25,000 miles) from Callisto during Galileo's ninth orbit of Jupiter. The global image on the left is centered at 0.5 degrees south latitude and 56 degrees longitude. The resolution is 14 kilometers per picture element. The images were obtained on November 5, 1997 at a range of 68,400 kilometers(42,400 miles) during Galileo's eleventh orbit of Jupiter. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URLhttp://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URLhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ] |
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Impact Craters on Icy Callis
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PIA01648
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Impact Craters on Icy Callisto: Doh crater and Asgard |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This composite of Jupiter's icy moon Callisto combines data from two orbits showing several types of impact craters. North is to the top of the picture, the sun illuminates the surface from the east. The global image on the right shows one of the largest impact structures on Callisto, the Asgard multi-ring structure located near 30 degrees north latitude, 142 degrees west longitude. The Asgard structure is approximately 1700 kilometers (1,054 miles) across and consists of a bright central zone surrounded by discontinuous rings. The rings include degraded ridges near the central zone and troughs at the outer margin, which resulted from deformation of the icy crust following impact. Smaller impacts have smashed into Callisto after the formation of Asgard. The young, bright-rayed crater Burr located on the northern part of Asgardis about 75 kilometers (46 miles) across. Galileo images show a third type of impact crater in this image, a dome crater named Doh, located in the bright central plains of Asgard. Doh (left image) is about 55 kilometers (34 miles)in diameter, while the dome is about 25 kilometers (15 miles) across. Dome craters contain a central mound instead of a bowl shaped depression or central mountain (peak) typically seen in larger impact craters. This type of crater could represent penetration into a slushy zone beneath the surface of the Asgard impact. The global image on the right was taken on November 4, 1996, at a distance of 111,900 kilometers (69,400 miles) by the solid state imaging (SSI) camera onboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its third orbit around Jupiter. The image on the left was obtained at a resolution of 90 meters (295 feet)per picture element on September 16, 1997 during Galileo's tenth orbit when the spacecraft was less than 9,500 kilometers (6,000 miles) from Callisto. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URLhttp://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URLhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ] |
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Moderate-resolution view of
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PIA00898
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Moderate-resolution view of Callisto's surface |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This five-frame mosaic of the Jovian satellite Callisto shows a surface densely populated with impact craters. However, close inspection of this image reveals differences among the craters. For example, a few of the craters contain central dome-shaped features, while others contain depressions, or pits, within the crater floor. Scientists study differences among craters such as these to learn more about both the surface that was struck by an impactor, and the impactor itself. These images were obtained by the Galileo spacecraft on its eighth orbit around Jupiter at a distance of 48,000 km from Callisto. The mosaic is centered at 31 S. latitude and 122 W. longitude, and covers an area approximately 700 kilometers (420 miles) by 900 kilometers (540 miles)-- somewhat larger than Montana. The finest details that can be discerned in this picture are about 1.8 kilometers across (0.93 km/pixel). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo |
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Callisto's Equatorial Region
PIA00745
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Callisto's Equatorial Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic covers part of the equatorial region of Jupiter's moon, Callisto. The mosaic combines six separate image frames obtained by the solid state imaging (CCD) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its ninth orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the picture. The mosaic shows several new features and characteristics of the surface revealed by Galileo. These include deposits that may represent landslides in the southern and southwestern floors of many craters. Two such deposits are seen in a 12 kilometer (7.3 mile) crater in the west-central part of the image, and in a 23 kilometer (14 mile) crater just north of the center of the image. Also notable are several sinuous valleys emanating from the southern rims of 10 to 15 kilometer (6.2 to 9.3 mile) irregular craters in the west-central part of the image. The pervasive local smoothing of Callisto's surface is well represented in the plains between the craters in the southeastern part of the image. Possible oblique impacts are suggested by the elongated craters in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the image. The mosaic, centered at 7.4 degrees south latitude and 6.6 degrees west longitude, covers an area of approximately 315 by 215 kilometers (192 by 131 miles). The sun illuminates the scene from the west (left). The smallest features that can be seen are about 300 meters (993 feet) across. The images were obtained on June 25, 1997, when the spacecraft was at a range of 15,200 kilometers (8,207 miles) from Callisto. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo |
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Har Crater on Callisto
PIA01054
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Har Crater on Callisto |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image shows a heavily cratered region near Callisto's equator. It was taken by the Galileo spacecraft Solid State Imaging (CCD) system on its ninth orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the image. The 50 kilometer (30 mile) double ring crater in the center of the image is named Har. Har displays an unusual rounded mound on its floor. The origin of the mound is unclear but probably involves uplift of ice-rich materials from below, either as a "rebound" immediately following the impact that formed the crater or as a later process. Har is older than the prominent 20 kilometer (12 mile) crater superposed on its western rim. The large crater partially visible in the northeast corner of the image is called Tindr. Chains of secondary craters (craters formed from the impact of materials thrown out of the main crater during an impact) originating from Tindr crosscut the eastern rim of Har. The image, centered at 3.3 degrees south latitude and 357.9 degrees west longitude, covers an area of 120 kilometers by 115 kilometers (75 miles by 70 miles). The sun illuminates the scene from the west (left). The smallest distinguishable features in the image are about 294 meters (973 feet) across. This image was obtained on June 25, 1997, when Galileo was 14,080 kilometers (8,590 miles) from Callisto. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. |
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Large impact on Callisto`s s
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PIA01077
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Large impact on Callisto`s southern hemisphere |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This mosaic of images showing a large 200 kilometer (120 mile) diameter impact crater on Callisto's southern hemisphere was obtained by the solid state imaging (CCD) system on board NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its eighth orbit of Jupiter. This crater is characterized by a bright circular area surrounded by a darker material excavated and ejected by the impact. Beyond this is a zone of rays which are oriented radially outward and contain material also thrown from the crater. Fewer smaller impact craters are visible in the ejecta blanket surrounding the large crater than in the areas more distant from the crater. This lack of craters superposed on the ejecta blanket and on the crater itself, together with the brightness of the central zone, is evidence that the large crater is a relatively young feature on Callisto. Scientists use information such as the number of craters in a given area together with the principle of superposition (in which younger landforms are "on top" of older features) to determine the relative ages of features and terrains. North is to the top of the mosaic with the sun illuminating the surface from the left. The mosaic, centered at 55 degrees south latitude and 30 degrees west longitude, covers an area approximately 1400 kilometers (850 miles) by 1235 kilometers (740 miles), at a resolution of 867 meters (945 yards) per picture element. The images which make up this mosaic were taken on May 6, 1997, from an altitude of approximately 43,000 kilometers (26,000 miles) above the surface of Callisto. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo |
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Landslides on Callisto
PIA01095
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Landslides on Callisto |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Recent Galileo images of the surface of Jupiter's moon Callisto have revealed large landslide deposits within two large impact craters seen in the right side of this image. The two landslides are about 3 to 3.5 kilometers (1.8 to 2.1 miles) in length. They occurred when material from the crater wall failed under the influence of gravity, perhaps aided by seismic disturbances from nearby impacts. These deposits are interesting because they traveled several kilometers from the crater wall in the absence of an atmosphere or other fluids which might have lubricated the flow. This could indicate that the surface material on Callisto is very fine-grained, and perhaps is being "fluffed" by electrostatic forces which allowed the landslide debris to flow extended distances in the absence of an atmosphere. This image was acquired on September 16th, 1997 by the Solid State Imaging (CCD) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft, during the spacecraft's tenth orbit around Jupiter. North is to the top of the image, with the sun illuminating the scene from the right. The center of this image is located near 25.3 degrees north latitude, 141.3 degrees west longitude. The image, which is 55 kilometers (33 miles) by 44 kilometers (26 miles) across, was acquired at a resolution of 100 meters per picture element. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. |
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