Light-dark contrasts along a trough on Vesta
Light-dark contrasts along a trough on Vesta
The image shows numerous covered craters along a trough near the equator on the asteroid Vesta. It is one of the first images acquired by the German Framing Camera system on board NASA's Dawn spacecraft from the Low-Altitude Mapping Orbit (LAMO), about 200 kilometres above the surface of the asteroid. The area shows signs of ejecta from a large impact basin named Rheasilvia (outside the image), which was formed by a collision with another asteroid near Vesta's South Pole. In addition, longitudinal terrain features of varying size and shape can be seen. The image data were acquired on 13 December 2011 from an altitude of 191 kilometres. The centre of the imaged area is located at 14.6 degrees south and 50.1 degrees east.
