HiRISE | Concentric Crater Fill (ESP_087323

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Concentric Crater Fill
ESP_087323_2210 Science Theme:

The mid-latitudes of Mars are full of icy terrain that fills valleys and craters, and blankets the flat plains. Some of the ice-filled craters have a distinctive appearance: the circular ridges on the surface of the icy material they contain are called “concentric crater fill.”

These ridges are parallel to the crater rim and it’s possible that ice flowed down the higher crater walls towards the crater center from all directions at once. Maybe these ridges are caused by buckling as the flowing material is squeezed into a smaller and smaller area, or maybe they are internal layers of rocky debris in the ice that are now exposed at the surface.

Mars scientists use images like these to examine the spacing of these layers and look for patterns that could indicate they’re being controlled by the climate.

Written by: Shane Byrne (1 May 2025)

Acquisition date
13 March 2025

Local Mars time
14:54

Latitude (centered)
40.644°

Longitude (East)
59.985°

Spacecraft altitude
296.2 km (184.1 miles)

Original image scale range
30.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~91 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
12.4°

Phase angle
54.3°

Solar incidence angle
42°, with the Sun about 48° above the horizon

Solar longitude
56.1°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 351.6°

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   (563MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (194MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (308MB)
non-map           (397MB)

IRB color
map projected (71MB)
non-map           (154MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (161MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (153MB)

RGB color
non map           (225MB)

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.