Mars Gets a Brand New Crater

HiRISE image of a bright rayed crater on Mars (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
HiRISE image of a bright rayed crater on Mars (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

If you count at least slightly over two years old as “brand new” then yes, this one is certainly that!

Seen above in an image taken by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013, a 100-foot-wide (30-meter) crater is surrounded by bright rays of ejected material and blown-clear surface. Since HiRISE calibrates color to surface textures, the less-dusty cleared surface at the crater site appears blue. (See a true-color calibrated scan here.)

By narrowing down when this particular spot was last seen to be crater-free, scientists have determined that the impact event that caused this occurred between July 2010 and May 2012.

Ejected material from this cratering event was thrown outward over 9 miles (15 km). It’s estimated that impacts producing craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) in diameter occur on Mars at a rate of over 200 per year.

Source: NASA/JPL (And download this on a HiFlyer here!)

3 Comments

  1. BJ Deming says:

    Reblogged this on Clear Sight and commented:
    Why is this blue? Enhancement, perhaps.

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  2. carlngraham says:

    My blogs claims this is a spaceship crash. Much more fun 🙂

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    1. JPMajor says:

      I respectfully disagree. I feel the reality of the much more likely scenario is way more fun… and fascinating (simply because it’s real!)

      Like

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