Tales of destruction
An estimated half million asteroids are flying around our solar system, ranging from the size of baby planets to particles of dust. With so many objects winging about in space, it’s no wonder that the planets and moons of our solar system are pitted with craters. We know that the Earth contains the scars of asteroid impacts, with some impact craters on our planet measuring millions and even billions of years old. These impacts have unquestionably altered both the evolutionary and geological trajectory of our planet; imagine what similar impacts have done to other planets. Here are eight images of amazing impact craters in our solar system, each telling its own tale of mysterious destruction. (Text: Katherine Butler)
Related Link: 8 asteroids in our solar system
1. Crater 308 on the moon
Pictured here is Crater 308 on the far side of the moon. We see only the smooth side of the moon from Earth, as the moon is locked in rotation with the Earth. The dark side is heavily cratered.
The craters of our solar system tell tales of powerful collisions that are almost unimaginable. Such impacts are part of our own planet’s history - and future. NASA constantly monitors potentially dangerous objects that buzz the Earth, calling them Near Earth Objects (NEOs). When and where the next impact crater will hit within our solar system remains to be seen.
Related Link: NASA video pulls back curtain on how moon evolved
2. Jupiter's scar in infrared
Scientists believe that Jupiter's gravitational pull prevented a planet from forming between it and Mars. Instead, small bodies collided with each other, creating what is now our solar system’s asteroid belt. Pictured here is Jupiter in 2009 after an object the size of the Titanic hurtled into the giant planet. As NASA writes, “The image on the left was taken on July 20, 2009, and the image on the right was taken on Aug. 16, 2009. The impact and its aftereffects can be seen as the bright spot on the lower left of the July 20 image and as the bright smudge on the lower left of the Aug. 16 image.” The intensely powerful winds of Jupiter had “sheared apart” the impact by the time the Aug. 16 image was taken.
Related Link: 10 amazing images of Jupiter
3. Cascading dunes of Mars' Rabe Crater
Mars’ proximity to our solar system’s asteroid belt makes it an easy target for space objects. Here we see the cascading dunes of the Rabe Crater, which is located in the right side of the image. This false-colour image was taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. As NASA describes the image, “the colours portray the overnight surface temperatures: bluer colours indicate cold places, redder tints warm ones.” The Rabe Crater was discovered by German astronomer Wilhelm F. Rabe (1893-1958). It is 108 km in diameter and exists halfway between Mars’ equator and South Pole.
4. Einstein and Einstein A Craters of the moon
Some of the craters on the moon are thought to be as old as 2 billion years. Pictured here is a false-colour image of two craters on the western side of the moon, both named for Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Einstein A lies squarely in the middle of the Einstein Crater, making it the younger of the two impacts. “Einstein A reveals most of its original structure, including a raised rim and ejecta blanket, and is therefore a relatively young crater as compared to Einstein, whose original structure has been somewhat degraded over time by smaller impacts,” NASA says.
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5. Victoria Crater of Mars
If you could fly over Mars in an airplane, you could look down and see Victoria Crater in all its magnificence. This image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This false-colour image shows the crater's steep walls. Some of the cliffs around the crater are vertical, but the slopes themselves are no more than 30 degrees. NASA has studied the Victoria Crater extensively, including a visit by the Mars rover, Opportunity.
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6. Counting Mercury's craters
The closest planet to our sun carries its share of impact scars. NASA’s MESSENGER space flyer took this image of a previously unseen portion Mercury's surface on Jan. 14, 2008. NASA has been using the information compiled by MESSENGER to understand Mercury's geological history. According to NASA, “In this image alone, 763 craters have been identified and measured (shown in green) along with 189 hills (shown in yellow).” Scientists are using the number of craters to date the surface of the planet. In other words, the more craters they can count in one area, the older the geological age of that area.
Related Link: 8 magnificent images of Mercury
7. Van de Graaff Crater of the moon
This false-colour image of the Van de Graaff crater shows an interesting figure-8 shape. It is on the far side of the moon, north of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The crater looks as if it were created by two separate impacts. However, NASA notes that no crater wall separates the two halves. The area also has a higher concentration of radioactive materials. Another mystery of this lunar area is that it contains a small, localized magnetic field, possibly due to the presence of volcanic rock under its surface. Unlike Earth, the moon does not have a global magnetic field.
Related Link: Moon-forming collision theory gets new spin
8. Streaked craters of Mimas
Earth’s moon is just one of the satellites in our solar system to take a beating. Mimas, one of Saturn’s moons, is shown here in this false-colour image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. NASA points out how the colours vary on the moon’s surface, including the bluish terrain on the right and the greenish terrain elsewhere.
Related Link: 8 fantastic images of Saturn
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