DLR Institute of Planetary Research - 15.11.2011 - Hummocky terrain in Vesta’s Rheasilvia quadrangle

You are here: Home:Departments:Planning and Common Management:DAWN - Bild des Tages

Send article

15.11.2011 - Hummocky terrain in Vesta’s Rheasilvia quadrangle

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows the hummocky (i.e. wavy/ undulating) terrain of Vesta’s Rheasilvia quadrangle, which is the south polar region. This hummocky terrain is clearly seen as the pattern of hills and depressions that extends across the image. Some of these hills terminate abruptly and have scarps (i.e. cliffs) along their margins. Due to the direction of sunlight in this image these scarps are visible as linear shadowed regions. There are also narrow, linear grooves running obliquely across the image, most noticeably in the top of the image. There is a range of crater sizes from less than 1km to around 15km in diameter. The smaller craters tend to be fresher with sharper rims and the larger craters tend to be more degraded with rounder rims. A large, roughly 10km diameter, crater in the top left of the image contains linear features which are probably due to slumping towards the center of the crater.

Send article link to:

Your e-mail address:

Your message: