Astronomy Picture of the Day - powered by LUNEXIT.IT

West Candor Chasma (a Region located in the central portion of the Valles Marineris Canyon System) contains some of the thickest of the fine-grained Layered Deposits existing on Mars. The size of these Grains cannot be seen nor measured (not even by using the best HiRISE images) but, as the Material forming the Layers suffers some erosion, it suddenly disappears - likely because it gets carried away by the Wind -; in the light of such a circumstance, we can reasonably assume that the Grains forming the Layers must be extremely small.

The Layers of Candor Chasma might have either formed by way of deposition of Windblown Materials or Water-carried Materials, or fall of Volcanic Ashes and Sediments, or all of the above (of course in different times). Subsequently, the Layers could - some time afterwards - have been altered by Groundwater, thus producing Hydrated Minerals (such as Sulfates). In this frame (which is just a sub-image), we can see in great detail a portion of the Surface of the Western portion of Candor Chasma, with different minerals overlying Dust and Sand. The gray, sharp-crested and ridge-like shaped Surface Features visible in-between some of the Layers, are Sand Dunes.

Mars Local Time: 15:13 (Early Afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 6,733° South Lat. and 284,485° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 266,6 Km (such as about 166,6 miles)
Original image scale range: 26,7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~ 80 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale: 25 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULR
Emission Angle: 9,8°
Phase Angle: 50,0°
Solar Incidence Angle: 57° (meaning that the Sun was about 33° above the Local Horizon at the time that the picture was taken)
Solar Longitude: 82,4° (Northern Spring- Southern Fall)
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

This frame has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and then looked down, towards the Western Regions of Candor Chasma), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.