The "Dusty" Summit of Pavonis Mons (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)

Pavonis Mons is one of the 3 giant Tharsis Montes Shield Volcanoes. Its Summit rises so far above the Surface that the Atmosphere is extremely thin, even for Mars.
Dust that reaches these heights (for example, during major Dust Storms) is hard to remove, so the upper parts of these Volcanoes are covered by vast deposits of dust. The dust is moved a little by the thin winds, producing ripples and other textures near the limit of HiRISE’s resolution. The fluffy, ripply surface looks “smudged” or out of focus, but by looking at some of the small impact craters you can see that the HiRISE camera is, indeed, properly focused. It’s the surface of Mars that is blurry!

Nota Lunexit: NO. A nostro parere NON è la Superficie di Marte che è "sfuocata" (blurry) e non è neppure la fotocamera dell'Orbiter che è "out of focus". Si tratta, come abbiamo già visto in passato (nelle immagini dei fly-by ravvicinati di alcune Lune Saturniane - Encelado su tutte) di un caso classico di "Sfuocatura da Movimento" (in altre parole: è un mero problema di lunghezza dell'esposizione - ivi: eccessiva -, data la vicinanza del target ripreso in rapporto alla velocità dell'Orbiter rispetto al medesimo). Curioso che i Ragazzi di Pasadena non ci abbiano pensato...

The impact craters also show that the dust is not a thin veneer. Instead, it is a thick coat, at least several meters deep. This mantling of dust hides the details of the Lava Flows and Vents, frustrating volcanologists but delighting those who study dust.

Mars Local Time: 15:23 (early afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 0,9° North Lat. and 246,8° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 254,1 Km (such as about 158,8 miles)
Original image scale range: 50,8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~1,53 mt across are resolved
Map projected scale: 50 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission Angle: 2,5°
Phase Angle: 52,4°
Solar Incidence Angle: 55° (meaning that the Sun is about 35° above the Local Horizon)
Solar Longitude: 244,7° (Northern Autumn)
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Additional process. and coloring: Lunar Explorer Italia