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Impact Events On Mars
In modern times, numerous impact events on Mars have been detected. Although most have been inferred from the appearance of new impact craters on the planet, some have corresponded to marsquakes felt by the ''InSight'' lander. To date, no impacting meteors have been directly observed as a Fireball (meteor), fireball or discovered in space before impact. Overview As the best-explored planet in the Solar System (after Earth), Mars has been continuously Exploration of Mars, explored by various spacecraft, landers, and rovers since 1997. The first probe to image Mars's surface in detail was ''Mariner 4'' in 1965, and ''Mariner 9'' became the first probe to orbit Mars in 1971. However, few early probes were able to image Mars in high enough resolution to detect new impact craters, which are typically less than across. Early probes reached resolutions of , while Mariner 9 was able to reach . From 1976 to 1982, ''Viking 1'' and ''Viking 2'' imaged all of Mars at resolution, with some a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Express
''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was designed and built. However, "Express" also describes the spacecraft's relatively short interplanetary voyage, a result of being launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer than they had been in about 60,000 years. ''Mars Express'' consists of two parts, the ''Mars Express Orbiter'' and ''Beagle 2'', a lander designed to perform exobiology and geochemistry research. Although the lander failed to fully deploy after it landed on the Martian surface, the orbiter has been successfully performing scientific measurements since early 2004, namely, high-resolution imaging and mineralogical mapping of the surface, radar sounding of the subsurface structure down to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazonis Planitia
Amazonis Planitia (, Latin ''Amāzŏnis'') is one of the smoothest plains on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis and Elysium volcanic provinces, to the west of Olympus Mons, in the Amazonis and Memnonia quadrangles, centered at . The plain's topography exhibits extremely smooth features at several different lengths of scale. A large part of the Medusae Fossae Formation lies in Amazonis Planitia. Its name derives from one of the classical albedo features observed by early astronomers, which was in turn named after the Amazons, a mythical race of warrior women. Age and composition Only approximately 100 million years old, these plains provide some of the fewest sedimentary layers impeding viewing of the Martian terrain, and closely resemble the composition of Earth's Iceland. Formed by free-flowing lava across great plains, Amazonis has been described by William Hartmann as a "bright dusty volcanic desert crossed by many fresh-looking lava flows." Amazonis has become the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazonis Quadrangle
The Amazonis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Amazonis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-8 (Mars Chart-8). The quadrangle covers the area from 135° to 180° west longitude and 0° to 30° north latitude on Mars. The Amazonis quadrangle contains the region called Amazonis Planitia. This area is thought to be among the youngest parts of Mars because it has a very low density of craters. The Amazonian Epoch is named after this area. This quadrangle contains special, unusual features called the Medusae Fossae Formation and Sulci. Medusae Fossae Formation The Amazonis quadrangle is of great interest to scientists because it contains a big part of a formation, called the Medusae Fossae Formation. It is a soft, easily eroded deposit that extends for nearly 1,000 km along the equator of Mars. The surface of the formation has been eroded by the wind into a series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memnonia Quadrangle
The Memnonia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Memnonia quadrangle is also referred to as MC-16 (Mars Chart-16). The quadrangle is a region of Mars that covers latitude -30° to 0° and longitude 135° to 180°. The western part of Memnonia is a highly cratered highland region that exhibits a large range of crater degradation. Memnonia includes these topographical regions of Mars: * Arcadia Planitia * Amazonis Planitia * Lucus Planum * Terra Sirenum * Daedalia Planum * Terra Cimmeria Recently, evidence of water was found in the area. Layered sedimentary rocks were found in the wall and floor of Columbus Crater. These rocks could have been deposited by water or by wind. Hydrated minerals were found in some of the layers, so water may have been involved. Many ancient river valleys including Mangala Vallis, have been found in the Memnonia quadrangle. Mangala app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martian Quadrangle
The surface of Mars has been divided into thirty cartographic quadrangles by the United States Geological Survey. Each quadrangle is a region covering a specified range of latitudes and longitudes on the Martian surface. The quadrangles are named after classical albedo features, and they are numbered from one to thirty with the prefix "MC" (for "Mars Chart"), with the numbering running from north to south and from west to east. The quadrangles appear as rectangles on maps based on a cylindrical map projection, but their actual shapes on the curved surface of Mars are more complicated Saccheri quadrilaterals. The sixteen equatorial quadrangles are the smallest, with surface areas of each, while the twelve mid-latitude quadrangles each cover . The two polar quadrangles are the largest, with surface areas of each. History In 1972, NASA's Mariner 9 mission returned thousands of photographs collectively covering more than 80% of the Martian surface. That year and the next, NASA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteoroid
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars. When a meteoroid, comet, or asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere at a speed typically in excess of , aerodynamic heating of that object produces a streak of light, both from the glowing object and the trail of glowing particles that it leaves in its wake. This phenomenon is called a meteor or "shooting star". Meteors typically become visible when they are about 100 km above sea level. A series of many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart and appearing to originate from the same fixed point in the sky is called a meteor shower. A meteorite is the remains of a meteoroid th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabia Terra
Arabia Terra is a large upland region in the north of Mars that lies mostly in the Arabia quadrangle, but a small part is in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle. It is densely cratered and heavily eroded. This battered topography indicates great age, and Arabia Terra is presumed to be one of the oldest terrains on the planet. It covers as much as at its longest extent, centered roughly at with its eastern and southern regions rising above the north-west. Alongside its many craters, canyons wind through the Arabia Terra, many emptying into the large northern lowlands of the planet, which borders Arabia Terra to the north. Features Arabia contains many interesting features. There are some good examples of pedestal craters in the area. A pedestal crater has its ejecta above the surrounding terrain, often forming a steep cliff. The ejecta forms a resistant layer that protects the underlying material from erosion. Mounds and buttes on the floor of some craters display many layers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elysium Mons
Elysium Mons is a volcano on Mars located in the volcanic province Elysium, at , in the Martian eastern hemisphere. It stands about above its base, and about above the Martian ''datum'', making it the third tallest Martian mountain in terms of relief and the fourth highest in elevation. Its diameter is about , with a summit caldera about across. It is flanked by the smaller volcanoes Hecates Tholus to the northeast, and Albor Tholus to the southeast. Discovery Elysium Mons was discovered in 1972 in images returned by the Mariner 9 orbiter. Terrestrial analog The terrestrial volcano Emi Koussi (in Chad) has been studied as an analog of Elysium Mons. The two shield volcanoes have summit calderas of similar size, but Elysium Mons is 3.5 times larger in diameter and 6 times higher than its counterpart on Earth. Possible source of nakhlites A 6.5 km diameter crater at 29.674 N, 130.799 E, in the volcanic plains to the northwest of Elysium Mons has been identified as a possibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons (; Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Olympus Mons is about two and a half times Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is one of the largest volcanoes, the tallest planetary mountain, and approximately tied with Rheasilvia as the tallest mountain currently discovered in the Solar System. It is associated with the Tharsis Montes, a large volcanic region on Mars. Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars's Hesperian Period with eruptions continuing well into the Amazonian. It had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for "Olympic Snow"). Its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probes confirmed its identity as a mountain. The volcano is located in Mars's western hemisphere, with the cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tharsis
Tharsis () is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, which are collectively known as the Tharsis Montes. The tallest volcano on the planet, Olympus Mons, is often associated with the Tharsis region but is actually located off the western edge of the plateau. The name Tharsis is the Greco-Latin transliteration of the biblical Tarshish, the land at the western extremity of the known world. Location and size Tharsis can have many meanings depending on historical and scientific context. The name is commonly used in a broad sense to represent a continent-sized region of anomalously elevated terrain centered just south of the equator around longitude 265°E.Carr, M.H. (2006). ''The Surface of Mars;'' Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, p. 46. . Called the Tharsis bulge or Thar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteor Air Burst
A meteor air burst is a type of air burst in which a meteor explodes after entering a planetary body's atmosphere. This fate leads them to be called fireballs or bolides, with the brightest air bursts known as superbolides. Such meteoroids were originally asteroids and comets of a few to several tens of meters in diameter. This separates them from the much smaller and far more common " shooting stars", that usually burn up quickly upon atmospheric entry. The most powerful meteor air burst in the modern era was the 1908 Tunguska event. During this event a stony meteoroid about in size exploded at an altitude of over a sparsely populated forest in Siberia. The resulting shock wave flattened an estimated 80 million trees over a area. Extremely bright fireballs traveling across the sky are often witnessed from a distance, such as the 1947 Sikhote-Alin meteor and the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, both over Russia. If the bolide is large enough fragments may survive, as from bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
