Looking at the Crater Half Full

Planetary scientists look for targets that help them better understand the area they are interested in. In this particular image, there is a small (1 kilometer, or 0.6 mile, wide) crater that appears to be partly-filled by deposits that have flowed into, and around it.

With this observation, scientists can learn more about the nature of these deposits. The crater offers an opportunity to gain more information about the flowing behavior of these deposits and their thickness given that the crater size can be used to estimate its depth. This provides insight into the thickness of the deposits partly filling it.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 55.5 centimeters [21.9 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 166 centimeters [65.4 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_076823_1475.

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.