Nicholson Crater on Mars
Date: 15 July 2005
Satellite: Mars Express
Depicts: Remnant hill in Nicholson Crater
Copyright: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the Mars Express spacecraft, shows the central region of the Nicholson Crater, with its characteristic remnant hill. The HRSC obtained the image during orbit 1104 with a ground resolution of approximately 15.3 m per pixel. The scene is centred at approximately 0.0° South and 195.5° East. North is to the right.
Nicholson Crater, measuring approximately 100 km wide, is located at the southern edge of Amazonis Planitia, northwest of a region called Medusae Fossae.
The inner edges of the crater wall can be seen at the borders of this image. Located in the centre of the crater is a large raised feature, about 55 km long and 37 km wide, which extends to a maximum height of roughly 3.5 km above the crater floor (the smoother surface around the raised feature out to the crater walls). At present, it is still unclear how this central feature was shaped and what kind of processes led to its formation. It is thought that this remnant hill could be composed of material from underground or was built as a result of atmospheric deposition.
The tall feature in the lower centre of this hill is the central peak of the crater, which forms when the surface material rebounds after being compressed during the formation of an impact crater. However, it is clear that this feature has been heavily sculpted after its creation, by the action of wind or even water.
The colour image was processed using the HRSC nadir (vertical view) and three colour channels.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO License. 
