Not White, Not Rock - False Color

This VIS image shows part of the floor of Pollack Crater. First imaged by Mariner 9, the high contrast between the crater floor and the bright feature, led to the informal name "white rock" for the bright floor feature. More recent images have shown that the floor of Pollack Crater is darker then normal in that part of the crater, which has produced the high contrast. THEMIS IR images of the feature indicate a composition produced by wind deposition, rather than water. Additionally, the deposit does not appear to be solid rock. The deposit is most likely a combination of dust and a more solid material. Taken together, the Mariner 9 image of white rock didn't hold up under careful study, it's not white and it's not rock!

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.

Orbit Number: 62872 Latitude: -8.53297 Longitude: 24.916 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-02-15 15:52

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.