Elliptical Craters (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

Elliptical Craters

Caption

A new SwRI study describes how unique populations of craters on two of Saturn’s moons could help indicate their age and the conditions of their formation. A unique pattern of elliptical craters along the equators of Saturnian satellites Tethys and Dione indicates slow and shallow impacts on an east/west trajectory and the possibility of planetocentric impactor populations similar to others in the outer solar system.

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NASA/JPL/SSI/Lunar and Planetary Institute

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