Humans found hundreds of thousands of craters on Mars greater than 1 kilometer in diameter, but now computers automate the process delivering crater counts as well as geologically meaningful ages.
craters
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Chicxulub Impact Crater Hosted a Long-Lived Hydrothermal System
Chemical and mineralogical evidence of fluid flow—potentially conducive to microscopic life—was revealed in rock cores extracted from the crater’s “peak ring.”
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Podcast: Instruments of Unusual Size
Rumbling volcanoes act like giant musical instruments that researchers can study to better monitor eruptions.
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Water Ice Lurks in Young—but Not Too Young—Lunar Craters
Using topographic data, researchers have estimated the ages of water ice–containing craters near the Moon’s poles and ruled out volcanism as being a primary route for water delivery.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Lomonosov: The Crater That Started a Martian Mega Tsunami
Three billion years ago, on Mars, the shores of an ocean may have been flooded by a mega-tsunami. Now the crater left by the bolide impact that probably triggered the tsunami has been identified.
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The Search for the Impact That Cratered Ancient Scotland
Great Britain’s largest impact crater likely lies in the Scottish Highlands. Scientists dispute whether it’s to the west or the east.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How the Moon Got Its Concentric Rings
A new study explores the origins of massive, multiringed lunar craters.
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Pluto’s and Charon’s Craters Reveal a Solar System Deficit
The New Horizons spacecraft recorded images of craters that imply an unexpected dearth of small objects in the Kuiper Belt.
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A Meteor Struck the Moon During the Total Lunar Eclipse
Telescopes around the world detected an impact event on the lunar surface just before totality on Monday. Amateur and professional astronomers are starting to coordinate data.
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Martian Crater Will Be the Landing Site for a Future Rover
The impact crater is a dry lake bed that contains evidence of ancient water flows and perhaps signs of ancient microbial life.