A dramatic, fresh impact crater on Mars dominates this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
A NASA spacecraft has snapped a stunning photo of a fresh Martian crater that was gouged out of the Red Planet just in the last three years or so.
The new photo by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was captured by the probe’s powerful HiRISE camera on Nov. 19, though the space agency unveiled the image on Wednesday (Feb. 5). Scientists know the feature formed sometime between July 2010 and May 2012, because other MRO observations show big changes in the area between those two dates.
“The crater spans approximately 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter and is surrounded by a large, rayed blast zone,” NASA officials wrote in a description of the new image. “Because the terrain where the crater formed is dusty, the fresh crater appears blue in the enhanced color of the image, due to removal of the reddish dust in that area.”
via Fresh Crater on Mars Spotted by NASA Spacecraft (Photo) | Space.com.
