Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Bright and dark ejecta in one Vesta crater

Bright and dark ejecta in one Vesta crater
Bright and dark ejecta in one Vesta crater A small, young, fresh crater has bright and dark ejecta rays extending from it. Dawn photographed it on October 22, 2011, during the High Altitude Mapping Orbit phase of the mission, from an altitude of 700 kilometers. This crater is approximately 5km wide and its ejecta extends for up to 15 kilometers. 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. NASA / JPL / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA