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DAWN - Bild des Tages - März 2012

30.03.2012 - Unusual bipolar crater

The roughly 20-kilometer-diameter (12-mile-diameter) crater, named Helena, in the center of this image of Vesta has an interesting bipolar morphology. The left side of Helena crater has a fresh and distinctive rim. Dark and bright material crops out of this part of the rim and slumps towards the center of the crater. But, the right side of Helena crater is much less distinct and grades into the surrounding hummocky (i.e. wavy/ undulating) terrain. Another smaller crater to the right of Helena has a similar morphology, where about one third of the crater is eroded into the surrounding terrain and is much less distinct than the other two thirds. There is a small crater surrounded by bright ejecta to the top left of the Helena crater and there are patches of dark material spread across the image.

29.03.2012 - Linear and curvilinear grooves

30 March 2012
This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows many linear and curvilinear grooves running roughly diagonally across the image. These grooves are much longer than they are wide: they are less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in width and can be up to 10 kilometers long (6 miles). A particularly clear curvilinear groove is in the middle left of the image. It is wider than the other grooves and has a sinuous pattern. In the top of the image there is a large crater with a reasonably fresh rim. A smaller crater has hit the rim of the larger crater and part of the rim of the smaller crater is partially slumping into the larger crater. The part of the rim of the smaller crater that is slumping is much more rounded and degraded than the other part of the rim.

28.03.2012 - Dark and bright material in a crater wall

This Dawn framing camera (FC) image of Vesta shows part of a large crater that has an irregularly shaped, fresh rim. This crater is also distinctive because it has many outcrops of dark and bright material originating from its rim and from the interior slope of the crater. This bright and dark material then slumps down towards the center of the crater along the crater walls. These slumps of dark and bright material extend for up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). The interior sides of this crater are dominated by the dark and bright material and have a mottled appearance. In contrast, the floor of this crater is more uniform in brightness and looks much less mottled.

27.03.2012 - FC21A3017187_large subdued and small fresh craters

27 March 2012
This image is located in Vesta’s Lucaria Tholus quadrangle and the center of the image is 3.742 degrees south latitude, 107.875 degrees east longitude. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on Jan. 22, 2012. This image was taken through the camera’s clear filter. The distance to the surface of Vesta is 272 kilometers and the image has a resolution of about 25 meters per pixel. This image was acquired during the LAMO (low-altitude mapping orbit) phase of the mission.

26.03.2012 - FC21A3017154_Line of craters

This image is located in Vesta’s Pinaria quadrangle and the center of the image is 27.668 degrees south latitude, 24.740 degrees east longitude. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on Jan. 22, 2012. This image was taken through the camera’s clear filter. The distance to the surface of Vesta is 272 kilometers and the image has a resolution of about 25 meters per pixel. This image was acquired during the LAMO (low-altitude mapping orbit) phase of the mission.

23.03.2012 - Crater doublet formed by a double impactor

23 March 2012
A crater doublet formed by the simultaneous impact of the two fragments of a split projectile, or of two mutually orbiting impactors, is seen in this DAWN FC frame. The area outside the larger crater in which the crater doublet formed features a high density of smaller craters, locally in clusters or chains. The area shown in this image is located on the floor of Vesta’s large south-polar impact structure Rhea Silvia.

22.03.2012 - Blocks of ejected materials and small craters near a crater rim

The low sun elevation in this DAWN FC image enhances small topographic details near the rim of a crater on Vesta. While most of the crater is still in shadow, the sunlit part of the image scene reveals boulders, house-sized or even larger, which are recognizable by their bright sides toward the right, and shadows towards the left. The boulders were ejected when the crater was formed and emplaced near the crater rim. Also, numerous smaller craters are seen in this image.

21.03.2012 - Fresh crater inside a rectangular crater

21 March 2012
Towards the bottom of this Dawn FC (framing camera) image, slightly offset from the image center, is a small, young, fresh crater within a rectangular, older, heavily eroded crater. When the rectangular crater formed it was probably more circular in shape and then became more rectangular due to erosion and slumping of material. The whole area shown in this image is heavily cratered and covered by fine material. This fine material results in the surface looking relatively smooth and is particularly apparent in the bottom right corner of the image. There are a number of narrow grooves, less than a kilometer (0.6 mile) across, running obliquely across this image. Some of these grooves cut across the rectangular crater.

20.03.2012 - Tarpeia crater

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows Tarpeia crater. Tarpeia is roughly 30 kilometers (18 miles) in diameter and has a sharp, fresh rim surrounding it. It is an irregularly shaped crater and on the left side some bright material is seen slumping from the rim towards the Tarpeia’s base. There are many small craters less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) in diameter within Tarpeia. These small craters must be younger than Tarpeia because otherwise the formation of Tarpeia would have destroyed them. Tarpeia is located in the ridged and grooved terrain of Vesta’s southern hemisphere and these ridges and grooves are seen running obliquely across this image.

19.03.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Tarpeia crater

19 March 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. These images are centered on the large Tarpeia crater. The topography image shows that Tarpeia crater formed in a region of lower topography (mostly colored green) relative to the surrounding higher topography (colored red and white). The topography image also shows that the base of Tarpeia crater (colored dark blue) is roughly circular.

16.03.2012 - Severina crater

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows Severina crater. This is the large crater, approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter, visible at the top of the image. Severina crater has a fresh, sharp rim and a smaller, presumably younger, crater on its rim. There is an interestingly shaped small crater within Severina. This crater is roughly rectangular in shape, possibly because it is the result of two craters merging together or possibly because it is ¬the result of erosion and slumping of one crater. Below Severina is a smaller, shallower crater with a less fresh rim. Surrounding Severina is a ridged and grooved terrain, which is characteristic of the southern region of Vesta.

15.03.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Severina crater

16 March 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, which has had a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Severina crater is the large crater in the left of the images. The topography image shows that Severina crater is a deep crater because the color-coding changes from red or yellow at Severina’s rim to blue at its base. The topography image also highlights the ridges and grooves in the right side of the image.

14.03.2012 - Calpurnia and Minucia craters

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows a close up image of two of the craters that make up the three ‘Snowman’ craters: Calpurnia, which is the larger crater in the bottom of the image, and Minucia, which is the smaller crater in the top of the image. The terrain to the right of the craters is smooth because it is made of fine-grained ejecta. The ejected material was thrown out of these craters just after they were formed by impact of material into Vesta. There are also areas of secondary craters in the ejecta blanket. These are clusters of small, less than 1-kilometer-diamater (0.6-mile-diameter) craters, which are scattered throughout the ejecta blanket. These secondary craters were formed when larger debris, thrown out at the same time as the ejecta, hit the surface.

13.03.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Calpurnia and Minucia

16 March 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, with a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. Calpurnia is the larger crater in the top left of the images and Minucia is the smaller crater in the top right of the images. The topography image shows the reasonably steep slopes in the interiors of these craters.

12.03.2012 - Vibidia crater

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image is centered on Vibidia crater, which is roughly 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. There is a distinctive distribution of bright and dark material around Vibidia crater. There are bright rays that extend for roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) in a circular pattern around Vibidia. These rays cut across older craters and some younger craters have been formed on top of them. The dark rays are mostly inside of the crater and some extend for short distances outside of the crater rim.

09.03.2012 - Apparent brightness and topography images of Vibidia crater

13 March 2012
The left-hand image is a Dawn FC (framing camera) image, which shows the apparent brightness of Vesta’s surface. The right-hand image is based on this apparent brightness image, with a color-coded height representation of the topography overlain onto it. The topography is calculated from a set of images that were observed from different viewing directions, which allows stereo reconstruction. The various colors correspond to the height of the area. The white and red areas in the topography image are the highest areas and the blue areas are the lowest areas. These images are centered on Vibidia crater, which has been named recently. It is clear from the topography image that Vibidia crater hit a sloped region of Vesta, which is higher at the top of the image and lower at the bottom.

08.03.2012 - 3-D image of fresh craters

This 3-D image, called an anaglyph, shows three fresh craters, which have been nicknamed the ‘Snowman’ craters. Each crater has now been given an official name: the largest is called Marcia, the middle is called Calpurnia and the smallest is called Minucia. To create this anaglyph, two differently colored images are superimposed with an offset to create depth. When viewed through red-blue glasses this anaglyph shows a 3-D view of Vesta’s surface. The depth effect in this anaglyph, derived from topography differences, was calculated from the shape model of Vesta. Marcia, Calpurnia and Minucia have sharp, fresh crater rims and a smooth area of ejecta, called an ejecta blanket, surrounding them. These features are distinctive in this image.

07.03.2012 - 3-D image of partially degraded craters

13 March 2012
This 3-D image, called an anaglyph, shows partially degraded craters and ridges. To create this anaglyph, two differently colored images are superimposed with an offset to create depth. When viewed through red-blue glasses this anaglyph shows a 3-D view of Vesta’s surface. The depth effect in this anaglyph, derived from topography differences, was calculated from the shape model of Vesta. Piles of material in the bases of the craters show up clearly in this 3-D image. This material likely slumped down from the sides of the craters. Also, some bright and dark material can be seen cropping out of the rims of the craters and slumping towards their centers. The ridges, which run roughly horizontally across the image, also stand out in the 3-D image.

06.03.2012 - 3-D image of degraded craters

This 3-D image, called an anaglyph, shows degraded craters in Vesta’s northern hemisphere. To create this anaglyph two differently colored images are superimposed with an offset to create depth. When viewed through red-blue glasses this anaglyph shows a 3-D view of Vesta’s surface. The depth effect in this anaglyph, derived from topography differences, was calculated from the shape model of Vesta. The three fresh craters in the center of the image are evident whether the image is viewed with or without red-blue glasses. But the five much larger, very degraded craters, which the fresher craters are superimposed onto, are significantly more evident when viewed through red-blue glasses. This is an illustration of the importance of looking at data in three dimensions when possible.

05.03.2012 - 3D image of Caparronia

5 March 2012
This 3D image, called an anaglyph, shows Caparronia crater, after which Caparronia quadrangle is named. To create this anaglyph two differently colored images are superimposed with an offset to create depth. When viewed through red-blue glasses this anaglyph shows a 3D view of Vesta’s surface. The depth effect, or topography differences, in this anaglyph were calculated from the shape model of Vesta. Caparronia crater is the large, roughly 30 kilometer (18 mile) diameter crater in the top part of the image. The 3D effect of the anaglyph highlights the large ridge running across the base of Caparronia crater. Also visible is the large, degraded crater offset from the center of the image.

02.03.2012 - Sharp crater rim with dark material and boulders

This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows part of the sharp, fresh rim of a large crater in the top part of the image. There is some bright material slumping towards the center of this crater but this is mostly overshadowed by the dark material, which has a splotchy appearance and is reasonably densely distributed across the part of the crater visible in this image. Around the middle part of the crater rim there are some boulders, which are identified by the dark shadows that they cast. These boulders are probably also slumping towards the center of this crater. The region surrounding this crater is reasonably smooth, which suggests that it is covered by fine-grained ejecta material.

01.03.2012 - Impact crater with smoothed rim

1 March 2012
This Dawn FC (framing camera) image shows a large impact crater whose rim is rather smoothed and degraded. There are many smaller, younger craters surrounding and inside of this crater and these have sharper, fresher rims. Generally, the freshness or smoothness of the rim of a crater is an indication of whether it is younger or older. In the top of the image there is some bright and dark material slumping from the rim of this crater. There are also many grooves running diagonally across the landscape.

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