PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA04807: Impact Crater
 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:  836 x 1254 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04807.tif (1.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04807.jpg (169.8 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:

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-520, 21 October 2003

Craters formed by meteor impact are the "tools of the trade" for planetary geologists. Craters have formed on every solid Solar System body, and thus they can be compared to each other and provide insights as to the nature of the object on which the crater occurs. Mars is pocked with craters of a wide range of diameters, from the giant Hellas Basin, which is several thousand kilometers across, to tiny craters of only a few tens of meters in diameter. The impact crater shown in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture is located in northern Elysium Planitia near 33.1°N, 230.2°W. It is about 3.6 km (2.2 mi) across, nearly four times the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona on the North American continent. The impact that formed this crater exposed layered bedrock (visible in the upper walls of the crater). Erosion, mostly by dry mass movement, has created gullies and piles of talus on the crater walls. Dark dots at the base of the wall are large boulders that have come down these slopes. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The scene is illuminated by sunlight from the left/lower left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2003-10-22