PIA19131: Cratered Summit of a Knob
 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 image ESP_038877_2135
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA19131.tif (5.191 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA19131.jpg (1.017 MB)

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There are many knob formations is the southeastern Acidalia region of Mars. All show a hilltop crest except one which has a summit crater that resembles a cone volcano.

Knobs like these likely formed from interactions between water ice and lava. For instance, the crater at the top of the center knob is likely from a steam explosion when lava vaporized ice. As such, this summit crater is not an impact crater.

This caption is based on a public target suggestion from HiWish.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 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 the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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

Image Addition Date:
2015-01-15