ridingwithrobots
Strike Zone
Sometime between May 2003 and September 2007 an object hit the Martian atmosphere and broke up into small fragments that slammed into this plain, digging craters and blasting away dust from the surface. Scientists think that colliding pressure waves from two impacts of nearly identical size drew the straight line in the dust. This image shows an area a few hundred meters across. Meteors similar to the one that shattered here routinely cross the Earth’s path as well, but usually explode or burn away in our thicker atmosphere before they reach the surface.
Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Released: January, 2009 | Credit: NASA/JPL/UA
Added to www.ridingwithrobots.org Feb 4, 2009
Strike Zone
Sometime between May 2003 and September 2007 an object hit the Martian atmosphere and broke up into small fragments that slammed into this plain, digging craters and blasting away dust from the surface. Scientists think that colliding pressure waves from two impacts of nearly identical size drew the straight line in the dust. This image shows an area a few hundred meters across. Meteors similar to the one that shattered here routinely cross the Earth’s path as well, but usually explode or burn away in our thicker atmosphere before they reach the surface.
Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Released: January, 2009 | Credit: NASA/JPL/UA
Added to www.ridingwithrobots.org Feb 4, 2009