Narrow Pass
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Narrow Pass
PSP_003532_1845  Science Theme: Volcanic Processes
Giant floods of lava have covered much of the equatorial lowlands of Mars in the recent geological past. One such flood of lava passed through the narrow gap near the center of this image in western Elysium Planitia.

The pass is only 2.3 kilometers wide, yet the flows went on for another 500 kilometers to the west. As the lava passed through the narrows, the surface of the flow became crumpled and broken, producing a rough surface. To the southeast, the flow moved more gently and the crust was slowly pushed up by liquid lava injected into the freezing lava flow.

Small irregular cones along the margins of the flow were created by explosions as water or ice underneath the lava flow boiled. While lava flows approaching this size have formed on Earth, the rapid erosion on our planet has destroyed the upper surfaces of the lava flows. Mars provides an extremely valuable opportunity to study aspects of giant lava flows that cannot be seen on Earth.



Written by: Laszlo Kestay  (6 June 2007)


This is a stereo pair with ESP_013830_1845.
 
Acquisition date
28 April 2007

Local Mars time
15:29

Latitude (centered)
4.516°

Longitude (East)
139.755°

Spacecraft altitude
273.3 km (169.9 miles)

Original image scale range
54.7 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~164 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.2°

Phase angle
56.6°

Solar incidence angle
56°, with the Sun about 34° above the horizon

Solar longitude
227.8°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  340.6°
JPEG
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map projected  non-map

IRB color
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Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
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JP2
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map-projected   (362MB)

IRB color
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JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (182MB)
non-map           (204MB)

IRB color
map projected  (82MB)
non-map           (150MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (332MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (319MB)

RGB color
non map           (143MB)
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.