Sentences with phrase «rim of an impact crater»

Not exact matches

Although scientists have drilled into the buried crater before on land, this is the first offshore effort, and also the first to go after the crater's «peak ring» — a circular ridge inside the crater rim that's characteristic of the solar system's largest impact craters.

And by drilling into a circular ridge inside the 180 - kilometer - wide crater rim, scientists hope to settle ideas about how such «peak rings,» hallmarks of the largest impact craters, take shape.

By drilling into a circular ridge inside the 180 - kilometer - wide crater rim, researchers also hope to nail down the processes that form «peak rings»: hallmarks of the largest impact craters, which planetary scientists have seen elsewhere in the solar system but which erosion has erased from other big craters on Earth.

While splotches lack the detectable rims that craters show, the team thinks the splotches are most likely caused by small impacts of material thrown from larger impacts.

Scientists revealed that the deep hole on Mars is not an impact crater, due to the lack of signs of ejecta or a raised rim.

Also evident is a dark scar on the rim of a crater to the northeast of the lander; this dark marking was not present prior to landing, and is believed to have been caused by the impact of Spirit's heatshield.