Eagle (crater)
Eagle is a 22-metre long impact crater located on the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain, situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) portion of the planet Mars. The ''Opportunity'' rover came to rest inside Eagle crater when it landed in 2004. Scientists were delighted that the rover landed there, as the crater contains rocky outcroppings that helped prove that Meridiani was once an ocean floor. This crater should not be confused with the other, much larger Martian crater ''Eagle'', which was officially named by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature in 1976. Name The name is a triple reference: in honor of the first crewed spacecraft to land on the Moon in 1969; in honor of the launching country, the United States, whose symbol is an eagle; and in reference to the golf term ''eagle'', referring to sinking a ball two strokes under par. The third reference extended the golf metaphor begun with a description of landing in the crater as "a ...
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Eagle Crater Panorama
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—2 in North America, 9 in Central and South America, and 3 in