HiRISE: On the shapes of impact craters

ESP_044998_1745The shape of a crater can depend on factors including the angle of impact and the pre-impact slope and topography.

This image shows a roughly 3-kilometer impact crater, formed on the sloping walls of Tithonium Chasma, part of the large Valles Marineris canyon system. We can see that this crater is non-circular, measuring about 3 by 4 kilometers. The ejecta—the debris that is generated and thrown out by an impact—will typically distribute itself evenly… [More at link]

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