NASA MRO HiRISE Images – August 8, 2013

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
August 8, 2013

– Possible Cyclic Bedding within a Crater in Arabia Terra
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_018714_1890

“Cyclic bedding” refers to a pattern of layering caused by repeated fluctuations in the amount of available sediment that creates new rock layers.

– Polygonal Surface Patterns at the South Pole
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_032487_0895

Around the South Pole there are areas of this carbon dioxide ice that do not disappear every spring, but rather survive winter after winter.

– Diffuse Winter Lighting of the Chasma Boreale Scarp 
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_032559_2645

The diffuse light in this observation gives the image a unique appearance, almost like a painting.

– Bright Dunes in Syria Planum
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_032735_1680

Features such as these hint that while modern Mars is relatively benign, the surface of the planet was battered by much more ferocious winds in the recent past.

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument.