Sunday, May 29, 2016

Big crack on the Red Planet.


Running across the image center, though, is one the largest canyons in the Solar System. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The featured mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s. Tomorrow, Mars and Earth will pass the closest in 11 years, resulting in the red planet being quite noticeable toward the southeast after sunset.

Via APOD

3 comments:

  1. Crack or a grazing shot by an asteroid?

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    Replies
    1. This is in fact what I choose to believe is the real explanation. NASA is hiding the truth from us!

      Delete
  2. Like the skin of a rotten orange, splitting?

    ReplyDelete