This HiRISE image shows a small portion of the rim of the caldera at the top of the volcano Alba Patera. This volcano has shallower slopes than most of the other large volcanoes on Mars. Unfortunately, this image is not able to help us understand what is unique about Alba Patera because of the thick dust cover. Instead it shows that the dust has been carved into streamlined shapes by the wind, cut by small landslides. Interestingly, there are some isolated patches that appear smooth and undisturbed by the wind.

Image PSP_001510_2195 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 22, 2006. The complete image is centered at 39.3 degrees latitude, 251.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 285.7 km (178.6 miles). At this distance the image scale ranges from 57.2 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) to 114.3 cm/pixel (with 4 x 4 binning). The image shown here has been map-projected to 50 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:23 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 50 degrees, thus the sun was about 40 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 139.0 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.

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, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.