Astronomy Picture of the Day - powered by LUNEXIT.IT

This scene shows a small portion of the Martian Region known as Deuteronilus Mensae, which is approx. 937 Km across and it is centered at 43° 54' North Lat. and 337° 24' West Long. Deuteronilus Mensae lies just to the North of Arabia Terra and it is included in the Ismenius Lacus Quadrangle, along the so-called Dichotomy Boundary, such as a sub-Region located between the old, heavily cratered Southern Highlands and the low plains of the Northern Hemisphere. Deuteronilus Mensae is to the immediate West of Protonilus Mensae and Ismeniae Fossae. A few Glaciers persist in this Region even in modern times, with at least one of them which appears to be (geologically speaking) "relatively" recent - meaning that its formation, in other words, should have occurred as recently as 100.000 to (only!) 10.000 years ago.

On the right side of the frame, you can see an highly degraded Alluvial Fan and a solitary Dust Devil that is making its way on the Plain, near the Alluvial Fan itself. An "Alluvial Fan" is a Surface Feature representing the remnants of what was deposited, in time, by a River flowing out onto a Plain; however, if this Surface Feature - as we believe - was actually formed by Water, then the Fluvial Activity which created all that must have ceased a very long time ago. This assumption is based on the high density of Impact Craters that can be seen located on the surface of the Fan. The Dust Devil, on the other hand, is an example of a still ongoing process (the "Aeolian" one) which, as you know very well, is still very strong on Mars and, throughout its continuous action, keeps on shaping and re-shaping most of the Surface of the Red Planet.

Mars Local Time: 14:01 (Early Afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 46,6° North Lat. and 20,7° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 304,5 Km (such as about 190,3 miles)
Original image scale range: 60,9 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~ 1 mt and 83 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale: 50 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission Angle: 5,6°
Sun - Mars - MRO (or Phase) Angle: 56,1°
Solar Incidence Angle: 59° (meaning that the Sun was about 31° above the Local Horizon at the time that the picture was taken)
Solar Longitude: 344,8° (Northern Winter - Southern Summer)
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 Surface of Mars), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.