A Spectacular New Martian Impact Crater |
A Spectacular New Martian Impact Crater |
Feb 6 2014, 02:17 PM
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#1
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 60 Joined: 22-October 04 Member No.: 102 |
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/mro/martian-impact...2/#.UvOXSPldWSo
A dramatic, fresh impact crater dominates this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013. Researchers used HiRISE to examine this site because the orbiter's Context Camera had revealed a change in appearance here between observations in July 2010 and May 2012, bracketing the formation of the crater between those observations. The crater spans approximately 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter and is surrounded by a large, rayed blast zone. 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. Debris tossed outward during the formation of the crater is called ejecta. In examining ejecta's distribution, scientists can learn more about the impact event. The explosion that excavated this crater threw ejecta as far as 9.3 miles (15 kilometers). The crater is at 3.7 degrees north latitude, 53.4 degrees east longitude on Mars. Before-and-after imaging that brackets appearance dates of fresh craters on Mars has indicated that impacts producing craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) in diameter occur at a rate exceeding 200 per year globally. Few of the scars are as dramatic in appearance as this one. This image is one product from the HiRISE observation catalogued as ESP_034285_1835. Other products from the same observation are available at http://uahirise.org/ESP_034285_1835 . HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Science Laboratory projects for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Does anyone know if they have any Crism data yet on the crater? Would be fascinating to see beneath the sheets as it were on the mineralogical data uncovered. |
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Feb 6 2014, 06:57 PM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14444 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Does anyone know if they have any Crism data yet on the crater? Would be fascinating to see beneath the sheets as it were on the mineralogical data uncovered. CRISM data is online and searchable. http://crism-map.jhuapl.edu/ couldn't be easier to use. http://crism-map.jhuapl.edu/?map=crismmap&...n%20Short%20Obs Would suggest there isn't a CRISM observation of that exact spot yet released. I would expect a CRISM follow up to have been commanded at the same time as the HiRISE follow up following the discovery. It's just not out yet. The nearest CRISM observation, purely by chance, about 9/10ths of a degree north.... is a follow up fresh-impact observation http://crism-map.jhuapl.edu/details.php?da...1&y=3.12226 |
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Feb 7 2014, 02:50 PM
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#3
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 60 Joined: 22-October 04 Member No.: 102 |
Thanks,
I was on the CRISM website yesterday trying to get the CRISM view to work but am still playing with it. I will dig through the links you posted. I think I was more looking for a follow up paper perhaps of the picture, I will keep my eye out for the follow up results. John |
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Feb 28 2014, 06:35 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
In Emily's 2014 post "Pretty Pictures…" the second pic shows a mosaic texture throughout the image. What causes that?
edit: I was posting this in the MRO thread. Somehow it got bumped here. |
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Feb 28 2014, 06:39 PM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Emily explains this in the cutline for a few images down. She says:
"This kind of polygonally patterned ground often forms in permafrost environments on Earth, where thermal contraction breaks the surface into polygonal shapes and then ice wedges form in between them. Thanks to Phoenix, we know that at least some of these polygonal terrains on Mars actually contain quite pure ice in the polygons themselves, quite close to the surface." She also shows a Phoenix image that illustrates what polygonally patterned ground looks like from the surface. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Feb 28 2014, 08:55 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
Thanks Doug - I got so excited at the 2nd pic I just jumped over here immediately!
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May 22 2014, 10:40 PM
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#7
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 94 Joined: 22-March 06 Member No.: 722 |
I thought this finding would fit better here than in a new thread.
NASA Mars Weathercam Helps Find Big New Crater : http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-162 -------------------- Mayor: Er, Master Betty, what is the Evil Council's plan?
Master Betty: Nyah. Haha. It is EVIL, it is so EVIL. It is a bad, bad plan, which will hurt many... people... who are good. I think it's great that it's so bad. -Kung Pow: Enter the Fist |
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May 23 2014, 04:52 PM
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#8
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
A ~50-meter new crater is exciting and a priori surprising. It's a reminder that Earth's atmosphere is blocking many considerable-sized would-be impacts from happening here on a regular basis.
Maybe one day they'll drop a lander into a brand-new crater to investigate it while it's fresh. The same strategy could potentially work on any airless body, such as Europa. |
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May 23 2014, 07:13 PM
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
"Maybe one day they'll drop a lander into a brand-new crater to investigate it while it's fresh. The same strategy could potentially work on any airless body, such as Europa."
They could try it on our moon! |
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