Impact Crater Gallery

Gale Crater landscape, Mars C014 / 4934
Gale Crater landscape, as imaged by NASAs Curiosity rover on Mars. This rover, part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, landed here on 6 August 2012. The view looks south-south-west

Mars map from 1881
Map of Mars, published in Paris in 1881. The first accurate telescope observations of Mars were made in 1877 and 1881 when Mars was at its closest to Earth (a situation called an opposition)

Artwork showing Chicxulub impact crater, Yucatan
Chicxulub crater. Artwork of the Chicxulub impact crater on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, soon after its creation. This impact may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs

Fragment of an iron meteorite. Iron meteorites (siderites) are remnants from the formation of the solar system that fall to Earth from space

Gosse Bluff a meteorite crater created by a massive cosmic impact about 130 million years ago. a meteorite crater from a massive cosmic impact about 130 million years ago

Atget crater, Mercury, MESSENGER image C016 / 9719
Atget crater on Mercury, MESSENGER image. North is at top. This crater, 100 kilometres across, is located in the Caloris Basin on Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun

Craters on Mercury, MESSENGER image C016 / 9720
Craters on Mercury, MESSENGER image. North is towards top left. This area, over 1900 kilometres across, consists mostly of as-yet unnamed craters in the eastern part of the Solitudo Persephones

Belemnoid fossil C016 / 6308
Belemnoid fossil. This fossil has been fractured (shocked) by the asteroid impact that created the Nordlinger Ries crater 11.5 million years ago during the Miocene

Nordlinger Ries impact crater, artwork C016 / 6316
Nordlinger Ries impact crater. Artwork of the lake that formed in the Nordlinger Ries crater following its creation 14 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch

Curiosity rover in Gale Crater, Mars C014 / 4944
Curiosity rover in Gale Crater, Mars. The ellipse (blue) shows the target landing area, and the green dot shows where NASAs Curiosity rover landed on 6 August 2012

Nordlinger Ries impact crater, artwork
Nordlinger Ries impact crater. Artwork of the lake that formed in the Nordlinger Ries crater following its creation 14 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch

Earth crater, 19th century artwork. Craters on Earth were used by 19th-century astronomers to explain the origin of lunar craters in terms of volcanism

Lunar craters, 19th century
Lunar craters. 19th-century artwork of some of the craters visible on the near side of the Moon. The three craters at upper left are: Fra Mauro Crater (top left, 101 kilometres across)

Moons South Pole-Aitken basin
South Pole-Aitken basin. Mosaic image of the Constellation region of the South Pole-Aitkin (SPA) basin, the largest and oldest crater on the Moon

Mars topography, artwork C013 / 9938
Mars topography. Computer artwork based on satellite images, showing the surface of Mars. Seen here is the Hellas Basin (lower right) in Mars southern hemisphere

Surface of Callisto, a Jovian moon
Surface of Callisto. Computer artwork of craters on the surface of Callisto, one of the moons of Jupiter. Callisto has a heavily cratered surface, formed as rocky debris impacts it from space

Argyre crater, Mars, computer artwork
Argyre crater. Computer artwork of the surface of Mars, showing the Argyre impact basin (large area, centre) and the Galle crater, which lies on its eastern rim at upper right

Surface of Mercury. Computer artwork of an asteroid impact crater on the surface of the planet Mercury. The Sun (upper right) and Earth (blue, left of Sun) are seen in the sky

Map of size and location of Chicxulub crater
Chicxulub crater. Map showing the size and location of the Chicxulub impact crater, Mexico. The impact 65 million years ago may have helped to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs

Manicouagan reservoir, Quebec, Canada, from space. This reservoir appears white as it is frozen over. The water fills an old impact crater, some 100 kilometres in diameter

Satellite radar image of Gora Konder impact crater
Gora Konder meteorite crater. Optical satellite image of the Gora Konder meteorite impact crater (lower centre) near Yakutsk in Siberia, Russia

Gravity map showing Chicxulub crater, Yucatan
Chicxulub crater. Coloured gravity anomaly map showing the extent of the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Moons surface
Mare around impact crater Copernicus. Above the crater is the Mare Imbrium with crater Plato at the northern edge and the Apenin mountains with Hadley Rille to the east, left the Ocean of Storms

Moons surface. At centre is the Mare Orientale, a multi-ring basin formed by a massive asteroid impact that then filled with lava

Far side of the Moon, artwork
Far side of the Moon. The dark crater towards lower right is Crater Tsiolkovsky, which was only half filled with lava after impact

Marss Gale Crater from space
NASAs next Mars rover, the Curiosity Rover, will land at the foot of a layered mountain inside the planets Gale Crater, caused by an asteroid impact millions of years ago

The Moon from space, artwork
The Moon from space. Annotated artwork of the surface of the moon based on data obtained by unmanned US space probes. The Ptolemaeus crater can be seen at far left

The Moon from space, artwork
The Moon from space. Artwork of the surface of the moon based on data obtained by unmanned US space probes. The Ptolemaeus crater can be seen at far left

Lunar map. Map showing the near and far side of the Moon based on data obtained by unmanned US space probes that orbited the Moon in the early 21st Century

Spider crater, Australia, satellite image
Spider Crater, satellite image. This crater (centre left), in Western Australia, is estimated to have been formed between 900 and 600 million years ago. Vegetation is green and bare rock is red

Iron distribution map, Barringer Crater
Iron distribution map for Barringer Crater, Arizona, USA, also known as Meteor Crater. A six-mile (9.65-kilometre) radius circle, centred on the crater

Lunar craters, 1866 artwork. These craters on the Moon, which include the Archimedes crater, were observed and drawn by the US astronomer Henry Draper (1837-1882)

Serra da Cangalha crater, Brazil
Serra da Cangalha crater, satellite image. This impact crater, in Tocantins, Brazil, was formed 220 million years ago. It has a diameter of 12 kilometres. Vegetation is green, bare ground is purple

Nicholson crater, Canada, satellite image
Nicholson crater, satellite image. This crater, in the Northwest Territories, Canada, was formed by a meteorite impact 400 million years ago. Water is dark blue, ice is light blue

Tenoumer Crater, satellite image. This impact crater is in Mauritania in the Sahara Desert. It is 1.9 kilometres in diameter and has a rim 110 metres high

Lonar Crater lake, India, satellite image
Lonar Crater lake, India, Satellite image. The basin for this saltwater lake was formed by a meteorite impact roughly 50, 000 years ago. The crater is 1.8 kilometres in diameter and 137 metres deep

Barringer Crater, Arizona
Barringer Crater, also known as Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA. The crater is about 170 metres deep and 1200 metres in diameter

Lake Yanisyarvi, satellite image
Lake Yanisyarvi, Republic of Karelia, Russia. The basin for this lake was formed by a meteorite impact 700 million years ago. It measures 14 kilometres in diameter

Nordlinger Ries Crater, Germany
Nordlinger Ries Crater, satellite image. The crater, whose perimeter is shown in orange, is located in Bravaria, Germany. The city of Nordlinger is located within the crater

Gosses Bluff crater, Australia
Gosses Bluff crater, seen from spaces. This impact crater is 160 kilometres to the west of Alice Springs, Australia. It is seen between two mountain ranges

Barringer Crater, aerial photograph
Barringer Crater, Arizona, USA, aerial photograph. This crater, also known as Meteor Crater, was formed over 50, 000 years ago by the impact of an iron meteorite (space rock)

Aorounga Crater, Chad, satellite image
Aorounga Crater, satellite image. This impact crater is in the Sahara Desert, in Chad. It is one of the best-preserved impact structures in the world

Wolfe Creek Crater, Australia
Wolfe Creek Crater, Western Australia. This crater (round area with white centre at upper centre left) measures roughly 880 meters in diameter

Chicxulub impact crater, Yucatan, Mexico. This impact crater (circle, upper left) is more than 180 kilometres across and is located on land and underwater off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula

Rock from meteorite impact crater. This rock, which is known as Bunte (multicoloured) breccia, comes from the Nordlinger Ries impact crater in western Bavaria, Germany

Tabun Khara Obo crater, Mongolia
Tabun Khara Obo crater, satellite image. This impact crater (upper left, indicated by orange arrows) is in the south east of Mongolia

Manicouagan Crater, Canada
Manicouagan Crater, satellite image. This crater in Quebec, Canada, was formed by a asteroid impact around 200 million years ago. It is thought the asteroid measured 5 kilometres in diameter

Pingualuit crater, Canada
Pingualuit crater, satellite image. This impact crater (blue circle at centre left) is in northern Quebec, Canada. The crater measures 3.4 kilometres in diameter

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