HiPOD: Saturday, 30 November 2024
A Recent Impact in Elysium Planitia

An Impact in Elysium Planitia
This image shows an impact crater in Elysium Planitia that was first discovered by the Mars Context Camera (CTX, also onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) that formed between February 2012 and June 2014. It appeared as a dark streak with multiple secondary craters, which was not visible in the previous CTX image.

The HiRISE camera commonly monitors new impacts such as these; however this is the first image of this particular impact by HiRISE.

The image shows a very distinct crater rim and ejecta that is much darker than the surrounding dust-covered terrain. The distribution of the rayed ejecta suggests that the impactor struck from the west.

ID: ESP_039148_1980
date: 2 December 2014
altitude: 281 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_039148_1980
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA

Black & white is less than 5 km across; enhanced color is less than 1 km. For full observation details, visit the ID link.