PIA23080: Colorful Mawrth Vallis
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from ESP_058749_2060
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA23080.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA23080.jpg (910.7 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:

Click here for larger image of PIA23080
Map Projected Browse Image
Click on image for larger version

Mawrth Vallis is a place on Mars that has fascinated scientists because of the clays and other hydrated minerals detected from orbit.

In this image, the enhanced black colors are most likely basaltic sands and rocks, while the green, yellow, and blue colors correspond to the different hydrated minerals.

This particular image was taken of a location in Mawrth Vallis that has a mineral called jarosite. Jarosite on Earth forms under wet, oxidizing, and acidic conditions. Another place on Mars where the Opportunity rover landed and explored also has jarosite.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 59.8 centimeters (23.5 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 180 centimeters (70.9 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_058749_2060.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2019-03-04