While HiRISE has imaged slope streaks before, bright streaks are not as common as dark ones, so they’re of high interest.

Slope streaks are generally small features , and have an interior roughness that is finer than the width of the streak itself. A high resolution image can help identify the characteristics of this roughness.

Additionally, studying these streaks can shed light on the “life cycle” of a streak and the geologic processes that created them. We may also be able to study the photometric properties of the streaks.

(Note: the above image is not map-projected, so north is approximate down).

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team   (15 August 2012)

More info and image formats at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_022405_1910

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona