NASA Photo ID: S90-49778           File Name: 10063349.jpg
  Film Type: 4x5 BW                  Date Taken: 10/09/90
  Title: Mosaic image of Venus constructed with data collected by Magellan spacecraft
  Description:
  This Magellan radar image is of an impact crater in the Navka Region of 
  Venus.  The image is a mosaic of data taken from orbits 376 and 377. The 
  crater is located at 334.5 east longitude, 21.4 south latitude and is about
  9  x 12 kilometers (5 by 7 miles) in size.  The crater is very unusual, and
  is  in some ways different from anything seen elsewhere in the solar
  system.  It  is fresh, with a sharp rim, terraces on the walls and a
  well-developed ejecta  blanket.  The rim, however, is distinctly kindney
  shaped rather than  circular, and the crater's fresh appearance suggests
  that it formed with that  shape at impact.  The ejecta blanket is markedly
  non-symmetric, with lobes  extending to the north (top) and south (bottom)
  of the image, and a major  extension stretching to the east (right).  On
  the crater floor are several  smooth, flat dark regions.  The asymmetric
  shape of the ejecta blanket has  been observed on other planets and in
  impact experiments, and probably  indicates that the impactor struck the
  surface at a low, oblique angle. The  truly unusual aspect of the crater is
  its shape.  One possible explanation is  that the impactor broke up as it
  passed through the dense Venusian  atmosphere, causing several large chunks
  of material to strike the surface  almost simultaneously in an irregular
  pattern.  The dark patches on the  crater floor may be solidified pools of
  molten rock generated by the impact,  or could be volcanic material
  extruded some time after the crater's  formation. Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  (JPL) alternate number is P-36642. 
  
  Subject terms:
  CRATERS                                 
  MAGELLAN SPACECRAFT (NASA)              
  RADAR DATA                              
  VENUS (PLANET)                          
  VENUS SURFACE                           
  

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