Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Extensional fractures in Yalode crater, Ceres

Extensional fractures in Yalode crater, Ceres
Extensional fractures in Yalode crater, Ceres The linear features in this image are depressions that located within the large Yalode Crater on Ceres. The widest of the linear features is approximately 1.5 kilometers in width. Scientists think these features formed when extensional stresses pulled the surface of Ceres apart. In the upper part of the image, the linear features cut through several impact craters, indicating that the fractures are younger than those particular craters. The linear features are not the youngest things visible in this view, however. There are also small impact craters imprinted upon them, meaning those craters must have appeared more recently. Dawn took this image on June 15, 2016, from its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of about 385 kilometers above the surface. The image resolution is 35 meters per pixel. NASA / JPL / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA