Impact crater with smoothed rim - Nasa Dawn Mission Image of the Day: 1 March 2012

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows a large impact crater whose rim is rather smoothed and degraded. There are many smaller, younger craters surrounding and inside of this crater and these have sharper, fresher rims. Generally, the freshness or smoothness of the rim of a crater is an indication of whether it is younger or older. In the top of the image there is some bright and dark material slumping from the rim of this crater. There are also many grooves running diagonally across the landscape.

This image is located in Vesta’s Oppia quadrangle and the center of the image is 4.0 degrees south latitude, 358.6 degrees east longitude. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on Dec. 13, 2011. This image was taken through the camera’s clear filter. The distance to the surface of Vesta is 272 kilometers (163 miles) and the image has a resolution of about 25 meters (82 feet) per pixel. This image was acquired during the LAMO (low-altitude mapping orbit) phase of the mission.

Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ UCLA/ MPS/ DLR/ IDA