PIA05943: Exhuming Craters
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
 Product Size:  601 x 1087 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Producer ID:  MOC2-848
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05943.tif (654.2 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05943.jpg (134.8 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

13 September 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows about two dozen circular depressions, each with a circular mesa on its floor. These were once meteor impact craters. The craters were filled with layered material, buried, and then exhumed and eroded. The dark, elliptical feature in the lower left (southwest) corner of the image is a butte composed of the layered rock that once completely covered the craters in this image. These landforms are located in a depression eroded into the floor of a much larger, partially-filled impact crater located near 35.1°S, 356.5°W. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-09-13