impact crater – Astronomy Now

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede shows hints of Solar System’s largest impact

17 August 2020 Astronomy Now

A 90-mile-wide asteroid may have smashed into Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in the remote past, leaving still-visible traces of a cataclysmic collision.

Oldest known asteroid impact may have played role in ending ancient ice age

24 January 2020 Astronomy Now

A heavily-eroded impact structure in Western Australia – Yarrabubba – is now known to be the oldest of the world’s roughly 190 known major impact sites.

A meteoroid crashes on eclipse-darkened moon

3 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Amateur and professional astronomers alike captured the flash generated by a small meteoroid crashing into the moon during the January lunar eclipse.

Oldest Earth rock found on Moon? Maybe

28 January 2019 Astronomy Now

Researchers have identified a rock sample brought back from the Moon by the Apollo 14 crew in 1971 that may be the oldest Earth rock ever found

A recent uptick in impact events on the Moon and on Earth

20 January 2019 Astronomy Now

Data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate the number of impact events on the Moon nearly tripled over the past 290 million years.

A meteoroid impact on Mars triggers a dusty avalanche

12 June 2018 Astronomy Now

A bang and a whoosh – how researchers describe the recent impact of a small meteoroid on the side of a martian hill and a long avalanche of dark, dry dust that stretches more than a kilometre (0.6 mile) down the slope.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots recent impact crater

7 June 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted a recent impact crater that will remain a distinctive blemish for decades to come. Finding new craters is not uncommon with six satellites currently orbiting the Red Planet.

Lunar impact: how the Moon’s Mare Orientale was formed

29 October 2016 Astronomy Now

The Moon’s Orientale basin is an archetype of “multi-ring” basins found throughout the solar system. New research has enabled scientists to reconstruct Orientale’s formation using data from NASA’s GRAIL mission. It is now thought that the 580-mile-wide feature was created 3.8 billion years ago by an impacting object some 40 miles across travelling at about 9 miles per second.

Mars Express spies an ancient impact crater

24 July 2016 Astronomy Now

This striking perspective view from ESA’s Mars Express shows an unnamed but eye-catching impact crater on Mars. This region sits south-west of a dark plain named Mare Serpentis (literally ‘the sea of serpents’), which in turn is located in Noachis Terra (literally ‘the land of Noah’).

Scientists find fresh impact craters near the Moon’s south pole

23 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Using data from NASA’s Lunar reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists have discovered two geologically young craters — one 16 million, the other between 75 and 420 million years old — in the darkest regions of the Moon’s south pole. Such craters provide valuable information on the frequency of collisions in the solar system.