Crater with dark and bright ejecta

Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:01 in Astronomy & Space

(PhysOrg.com) -- This Dawn FC (framing camera) image is centered on a small, young, fresh crater with bright and dark ejecta rays extending from it. This image is a brightness image, which is taken directly through the clear filter of the FC, and shows the brightness and darkness of the surface. This crater is approximately 5km wide and its ejecta extends for up to 15 kilometers (9 miles). The ejecta rays outside of the crater are mostly bright. The dark ejecta rays mostly slump into the center of the crater, but there are some dark rays that extend for a few kilometers outside of the crater rim. This combination of bright and dark ejecta rays give the crater an impressively mottled appearance. There is dark and bright material located across Vesta but it is unusual to have a crater with both bright and dark ejecta rays.

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