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PIA00088: Venus - Stein Triplet Crater
 Target Name:  Venus
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Magellan
 Spacecraft:  Magellan
 Instrument:  Imaging Radar
 Product Size:  2048 x 2048 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Producer ID:  P37706
 Addition Date:  1996-01-29
 Primary Data Set:  Magellan MIDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00088.tif (2.606 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00088.jpg (819.1 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

The Magellan synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaged this unique 'triplet crater,' or 'crater field' during orbits 418-421 on 21 September 1990. These craters are 14 kilometers, 11 kilometers, and 9 kilometers in diameter, respectively, and are centered at latitude -30.1 degrees south and longitude 345.5 degrees east. The Magellan Science Team has proposed the name Stein for this crater field after the American author, Gertrude Stein. This name has not yet been approved by the International Astronomical Union. The crater field was formed on highly fractured plains. The impacts generated a considerable amount of low viscosity 'flows' thought to consist largely of shock-melted target material along with fragmented debris from the crater. The three craters appear to have relatively steep walls based on the distortion in the image of the near and far walls of the craters in the Magellan radar look direction (from the left). The flow deposits from the three craters extend dominantly to the northeast (upper right).

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1996-01-29