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Posted by baalke on November 30, 2007, 12:50 pm
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http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMWBK73R8F_0.html
Noctis Labyrinthus, labyrinth of the night
Mars Express
European Space Agency
30 November 2007
These images taken by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), onboard
ESA's Mars Express imaged the Noctis Labyrinthus region, the "labyrinth
of the night" on Mars.
The HRSC took these pictures on 25 June 2006 in orbit 3155, with a
ground resolution of approximately 16 m/pixel.
[Noctis Labyrinthus context map]
Noctis Labyrinthus lies at approximately 6.5 degrees south and 260 degrees
east. The Sun illuminates the scene from the north-west, top right in the image
above.
The region is located directly on the western edge of Valles Marineris,
the "Grand Canyon" of Mars. The closely-spaced, deeply incised, smaller,
labyrinth-like fractures are eye-catching.
[Noctis Labyrinthus, perspective view]
Noctis Labyrinthus forms part of a complex graben-system. This system
formed due to extensional tectonics. During the process, intense
volcanism in the Tharsis region led to the formation of a bulge,
resulting in tectonic stress. This caused the crust to thin out and form
graben structures, which are elongated, trench-like features bounded by
parallel normal faults. As one can clearly see in the context map, the
upper portion of the martian crust in this area is largely fractured.
[Noctis Labyrinthus, perspective view]
The scene in the picture exhibits parts of those graben structures that
have 5000-m deep incisions. They are strongly eroded, and this can be
seen from the debris at the bottom of the graben. Younger
rock-formations can be seen on the upper-edge of the graben.
[Noctis Labyrinthus, nadir view]
The sharpened colour image has been derived from the three HRSC colour
channels and the nadir channel. The perspective views have been
calculated from the digital terrain model derived from the stereo
channels. The anaglyph image was calculated from the nadir and one
stereo channel. The black and white high-resolution image was derived
from the nadir channel, which provides the highest level of detail.
[Noctis Labyrinthus, anaglyph image]
Special, stereoscopic glasses are required to view the anaglyph (3D) image.
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