[meteorite-list] HiRISE Sees Phobos in Color and Stereo

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 11:29:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200804091829.LAA08680_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

FROM: Lori Stiles (520-626-4402; lstiles at u.arizona.edu)

HiRISE Sees Phobos in Color and Stereo
University of Arizona
April 9, 2008

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, run from The University
of Arizona, has produced a new color stereo view of Phobos, the larger
and inner of Mars' two tiny moons.

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two
images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the
images for a stereo view.

"Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and
carbon-rich materials," professor Alfred McEwen of the UA's Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory, and HiRISE principal investigator, said.

Previous spacecraft, notably Mars Global Surveyor, have taken higher
resolution pictures of Phobos because they flew closer to it, HiRISE
team member Nathan Bridges of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in
Pasadena, Calif., said.

"But the HiRISE images are higher quality, making the new data some of
the best ever for Phobos," Bridges said. "The new images will help
constrain the origin and evolution of this moon."

By combining information from the HiRISE camera's blue-green, red and
near-infrared color channels, scientists confirmed that material around
the rim of Phobos' largest surface feature, Stickney crater, appears
bluer than the rest of Phobos. The impact that excavated 9-kilometer, or
5-and-a-half mile, Stickney is thought to have almost shattered the moon.

If Phobos' surface is analogous with surface of our own moon, "the bluer
color could mean that the regolith is fresher, or hasn't been exposed to
space as long as the rest of Phobos' surface has," Bridges said.

The HiRISE view also shows landslides along the walls of Stickney and
other large craters, Phobos' striking surface grooves and crater chains,
and craters hidden on the moon's dark side illuminated by "Marsshine."

"Marsshine" is sunlight reflected by Mars onto the moon. The phenomenon
is analogous to "Earthshine," where Earth reflects sunlight that
illuminates the dark side of our moon. Like Earth's moon, Mars' moons
Phobos and Deimos are "tidally locked" on their planet ? that is, they
always present the same side to the planet they orbit.

The HiRISE images are among several new HiRISE images being released
today on the HiRISE Web site at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu. The
images include an anaglyph, or 3-D view of Phobos that can be viewed
with red-blue glasses.

MRO flies at about 7,800 mph between 155 and 196 miles, or between 250
and 316 kilometers, above the surface of Mars.

Phobos was 6,800 kilometers, or about 4,200 miles, away when the HiRISE
camera took the first photograph. At that distance, the HiRISE camera
was able to resolve surface features at a scale of 6.8 meters, or about
22 feet, per pixel, and see features as small as 20 meters, or 65 feet,
across.

Phobos was 5,800 kilometers, or about 3,600 miles, away when the HiRISE
camera took the second picture minutes later. At that distance, the
HiRISE camera was able to resolve features about 15 meters, or 50 feet,
across.

Phobos, only about 13 and a half miles, or 22 kilometers, in diameter,
has less than one-thousandth the gravity of Earth. That's not enough
gravity to pull the moon into a sphere, so it's oblong. Mars' second
moon, Deimos, is even smaller, at about 7 and a half miles, or 12
kilometers, across. The very dark, diminutive moons may be captured
asteroids from the outer, carbon-rich, Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging
Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, observed both Martian moons last year.
By combining HiRISE and CRISM data on Phobos, scientists can map
minerals and soil types on the moons.

The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division
of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission
Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, based in Denver, is the
prime contractor and built the spacecraft. Ball Aerospace and
Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE camera.


CONTACTS:
Nathan Bridges (818-393-7799; nathan.bridges at jpl.nasa.gov)
Alfred McEwen (520-621-4573; mcewen at pirl.lpl.arizona.edu)

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lori Stiles (520-626-4402; lstiles at u.arizona.edu)
Guy Webster (818-354-6278; guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov)

LINKS:
HiRISE - http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter -
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html
UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory - http://www.lpl.arizona.edu
Received on Wed 09 Apr 2008 02:29:06 PM PDT