HiRISE | Ancient Clays near the Hellas Basin (ESP_093165

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Ancient Clays near the Hellas Basin
ESP_093165_1555 Science Theme: Composition and Photometry

Ancient clay-rich sediments (orangish color and polygonal fractures in our enhanced color cutout) exposed between wind-blown dunes and patches of sand northwest of the giant Hellas impact basin.

This very recently-acquired image shows that the HiRISE camera still works well.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (18 June 2026)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_093600_1555.

Acquisition date
11 June 2026

Local Mars time
14:35

Latitude (centered)
-24.301°

Longitude (East)
45.778°

Spacecraft altitude
256.0 km (159.1 miles)

Original image scale range
51.6 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~155 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
8.0°

Phase angle
27.8°

Solar incidence angle
36°, with the Sun about 54° above the horizon

Solar longitude
299.3°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 2.3°

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   (170MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (103MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (86MB)
non-map           (140MB)

IRB color
map projected (35MB)
non-map           (108MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (188MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (170MB)

RGB color
non map           (99MB)

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.