Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified
by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science
operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur
at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is
surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9
miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian
surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One
of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars
Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 or MOC2-1614).
Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia
Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC
images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17
April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a
diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller
craters were formed by this impact event.
Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC
narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact
occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the
impact.
Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars
Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible camera on 21 December
2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but
the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide
angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact
occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible
that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for
fresh martian impact craters!
The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space
Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space
Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter
Camera.
For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see
http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html.