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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Vesta's South Polar Scarp


NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on August 12, 2011. The image was taken through the framing camera's clear filter. The image has a resolution of about 260 meters per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Note: The Minister is not sure of the height of this particular escarpment. At its highest point, he comes up with a measurement of 145 pixels (more or less). However, this cannot surely be! 145 pixels x 260 meters per pixel = 37,700 meters! A cliff 37 km tall? Even Verona Rupes on the Uranian moon Miranda only measures, at most, 10 km tall, and that is currently the tallest known cliff in our solar system. The math must be wrong somewhere! [Update: According to a more recent NASA press release, the scarp is apparently nine miles (15 km) tall. That's certainly not anywhere near 37 km, but it may be about a third higher than Miranda's Verona Rupes. Impressive!]

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