Bright Ice Patch On Mars Crater
A crater on Mars has a bright patch of ice. It's the second time in over a decade that the crater and ice has been observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Transcript
00:00 The HiRISE and Context Camera instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have worked
00:03 together to image many new impact craters that have formed within the last few years.
00:08 At middle and high latitudes, these craters often dig up ice, which is initially bright
00:13 and then fades away as it sublimates.
00:16 A small crater here was first seen by HiRISE in 2010, and some of the ice is still bright
00:21 over a decade later.
00:23 A theory suggests that many millimeters of ice should have been lost in that time.
00:28 Since we can still see the ice, it must be very clean, without much dust or debris mixed
00:32 in.
00:33 The HiRISE instruments are a great way to capture the impact of the ice.
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