HiRISE | A Slice through the Layercake (ESP_084979

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

A Slice through the Layercake
ESP_084979_1975 Science Theme:

Impact craters can provide a useful look into the subsurface and show us some of the buried layers from Mars’ past. Here in Oxia Planum, a crater that’s 1 to 2 kilometers (about 1 mile) across shows a prominent layer as a bright ring near the crater’s rim.

When the crater formed, a lot of debris slumped into the interior and covered up the floor. However, the higher areas near the rim can show some of the pre-impact layering.

Oxia Planum is the target of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover. It’s an area with rocks that are thought to record the activity of ancient water on the surface of Mars.

Written by: Shane Byrne (20 January 2025)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_085045_1975.

Acquisition date
11 September 2024

Local Mars time
14:10

Latitude (centered)
17.497°

Longitude (East)
336.492°

Spacecraft altitude
281.8 km (175.2 miles)

Original image scale range
from 29.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 59.1 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning)

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
18.2°

Phase angle
60.4°

Solar incidence angle
45°, with the Sun about 45° above the horizon

Solar longitude
327.7°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 323.7°

JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (340MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (174MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (139MB)
non-map           (219MB)

IRB color
map projected (63MB)
non-map           (216MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (120MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (110MB)

RGB color
non map           (191MB)

ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.