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PIA23286: Tooting Crater Ejecta
This image acquired on September 24, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a huge tongue-like form, which looks a like a mudflow with boulders on its surface.
 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_057013_2045 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA23286.tif (5.191 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA23286.jpg (1.281 MB)  

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:

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In this picture we can see a huge tongue-like form, which looks a like a mudflow with boulders on its surface. This "tongue" is only a small part of a larger deposit that completely surrounds Tooting Crater (not visible in this image). This is part of what is called an "ejecta blanket."

The shape and form of the deposits in the ejecta blanket can tell us about the condition of the ground when the impact crater was formed. The presence of this tongue of ejecta is interpreted as a sign that the ground was frozen before impact. The force of the impact melted ice and mixed it with rock and dust as it was thrown away from the crater. It then settled to form these tongue-like lobes all around the crater.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 57.3 centimeters [22.6 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 172 centimeters [67.7 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in 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:
2019-06-12