PIA03019: Secondary Craters
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a cluster of craters in far western Arabia Terra on Mars. The crater cluster is oriented along a line that runs nearly left-right across the scene.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) 
 Product Size:  672 x 1031 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1243  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03019.tif (693.8 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03019.jpg (186 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:

7 October 2005
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a cluster of craters in far western Arabia Terra. The crater cluster is oriented along a line that runs nearly east-west (left-right) across the scene. Clusters of craters positioned along a line like this are secondary craters -- that is, they formed as the result of a much larger meteor, asteroid, or cometary impact somewhere else in the region. These craters do not form from the object that impacted Mars to form the larger, primary crater; these are the product of the impact of the rocks and debris thrown out by the larger impact.

Location near: 14.9°N, 19.3°W
Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Autumn

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2005-10-07