A new study explores the origins of massive, multiringed lunar craters.
craters
Posted inNews
Pluto’s and Charon’s Craters Reveal a Solar System Deficit
The New Horizons spacecraft recorded images of craters that imply an unexpected dearth of small objects in the Kuiper Belt.
Posted inNews
A Meteor Struck the Moon During the Total Lunar Eclipse
Telescopes around the world detected an impact event on the lunar surface just before totality on Monday. Amateur and professional astronomers are starting to coordinate data.
Posted inNews
Enormous Impact Crater Spotted in Greenland Under Glacial Ice
Ice-penetrating radar revealed a 31-kilometer impact crater—one of the world’s largest—in northwestern Greenland that might have been formed fewer than 20,000 years ago.
Posted inNews
New Simulation Supports Chicxulub Impact Scenario
Mountains ringing the center of Earth’s most famous impact crater consist of porous rocks. Computer models of the impact can now predict those rocks’ microstructure.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Moon’s Magnetic Field May Magnetize Iron That Hits Its Surface
Scientists are using satellite data to study large impact basins on the surface of the Moon that contain magnetic anomalies.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Long Term Preservation of Subsurface Ice on Mars
Layered-ejecta craters on Mars that are associated with impacts into rock mixed with volatiles have been formed throughout the planet’s history indicating the long-term preservation of subsurface ice.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Space Weathering Asymmetrically Alters Lunar Crater Walls
Directional differences in craters’ optical properties suggest that the solar wind, not tiny meteorites, is the main driver of space weathering on the Moon.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Meteorites Mix Moon’s Surface at Both Small and Large Scales
A three-dimensional model of material transport suggests that impact cratering can mix lunar soils across distances of more than 100 kilometers.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ancient Impact May Have Triggered Long-Term Volcanic Eruptions
Scientists revisit Canada’s Sudbury crater in light of new evidence from other planets that suggests an alternative postimpact history.