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Friday, March 30, 2012

Bright Rays from Canuleia Crater


In this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, bright material extends out from the crater Canuleia on Vesta. The bright material appears to have been thrown out of the crater during the impact that created it.

Canuleia crater is located outside the rim of the Rheasilvia basin in the southern hemisphere, inside the quadrangle named for Urbinia crater. It is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter. The bright ejected material extends 12 to 19 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) beyond the crater's rim.

This image was obtained by Dawn's framing camera on October 25, 2011, during high-altitude mapping orbit (on average 420 miles or 680 kilometers above the surface). This particular image was obtained at an altitude of 435 miles (700 kilometers). It covers about 2,000 square miles (5,000 square kilometers).

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

Note: This is only one of fifteen images recently released about features on Vesta. Choosing just one image to highlight on this blog was rather difficult. Be sure to visit the JPL website to view the other fourteen images!

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