[meteorite-list] Mars Express: HRSC Colour Image of Louros Valles

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:13 2004
Message-ID: <200404091649.JAA29281_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM6TZ57ESD_0.html

Mars Express
European Space Agency

HRSC colour image of Louros Valles
8 April 2004

These latest images show a system of sapping channels, called
Louros Valles (named in 1982 after river in Greece), south of
the Ius Chasma canyon which runs east to west.
 
These images were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera
(HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express during orbit 97 from an
altitude of 269 kilometres. The images have a resolution of
about 13 metres per pixel and are centred at 278.8° East
and 8.3° South. The colour image has been created from
the nadir and three colour channels. North is at the right.

The Ius Chasma belongs to the giant Valles Marineris canyon
system on Mars. The Geryon Montes, visible at the right of
this image, is a mountain range which divides the Ius Chasma
into two parallel trenches. The dark deposits at the bottom
of the Ius Chasma are possibly related to water and wind
erosion.

'Sapping' is erosion by water that emerges from the ground
as a spring or seeps from between layers of rock in a wall
of a cliff, crater or other type of depression. The channel
forms from water and debris running down the slope from the
seepage area.

This is known from similar features on Earth, but on Mars it
is thought that most of the water had probably either
evaporated or frozen by the time it reached the bottom of
the slope.
 


[Image]
3D view
 
The 3D image has been created from the nadir (vertical view)
channel and one stereo channel of the camera. North is again
on the right. This image requires stereoscopic glasses to view.


[Image]
Black and white view
 
 
For more information on Mars Express HRSC images, you might
like to read our updated 'Frequently Asked Questions' list:

http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMJBQXLDMD_0.html
 
Received on Fri 09 Apr 2004 12:49:49 PM PDT