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Everything is (Well) Illuminated

March 18, 2019
This image acquired on January 21, 2019 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the south polar layered deposits are well illuminated to accentuate the topography.
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The south polar layered deposits are icy layers that have been deposited over millions of years, preserving a climate history of Mars. In this image the layers are well illuminated to accentuate the topography.

A prior image of this location was acquired with the layered slope facing away from the sun, placing the layers in shadow. (The top of the cutout image is at a higher elevation.)

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 49.9 centimeters [19.6 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 150 centimeters [59.1 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in 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.

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