                          THEMIS: Image Detail

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Asymmetric Crater (Released 18 December 2003)

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 [9] Image Context:

Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
[ Find on map: Javascript [10]  version ]
[ Find on map: CGI [11]  version ]
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Asymmetric craters such as the one in the center of this image are
fairly rare. The more typical symmetric craters are formed when meteors
impact a surface over a wide range of angles. Only very low impact
angles (within 15 of horizontal) result in asymmetric structures such
as this one. The bilateral symmetry of the ejecta, like two wings on
either side of the elliptical crater, is typical of oblique impacts.
The small crater downrange from the main crater could have been caused
by the impactor breaking apart before impact or possibly a
'decapitation' of the impactor as it hit with the 'head' traveling
farther to form the smaller structure.

[Questions? Email images@themis.asu.edu [12] ]

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

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Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor
geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical
correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear
shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to
approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and
geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary
Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal
Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State
University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at
Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the
prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the
orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin
and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University

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]

[ Show Full-Size Image (PNG) [15]  ] [ Show Full-Size Image (TIF) [16]
]

[ Printer-friendly version [17]  ]

Parameter   Value       Parameter   Value

Latitude   -8.5        Instrument   VIS

Longitude   227.5E (132.5W)        Resolution (m)   19

Image Size (pixels)   3237x1391        Image Size (km)   61.5x26.4

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