The Eastern Slope of Asimov Crater's Central Pit

Asimov is an 84-kilometer diameter crater located in the southern ancient highlands of Mars. It is distinguished from other craters in this region in that it contains both a ring-depression just within the crater rim and a pit near the center.

Gullies have formed along slopes both in the ring-depression and within the central pit. A closeup shows gullies and recurring slope lineae (RSL) along the eastern slope of the pit. These features continue to form seasonally in this region and the HiRISE team monitors this and other sites to look for changes.

Another closeup shows new RSL forming during the summer just after the recent global dust storm. How these features form is still under investigation. Additional changes documented here and at other locations as a result of the dust storm may provide some insight into their formation.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.2 centimeters (9.9 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 76 centimeters (30.0 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.