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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Cornelia, a fresh crater on Vesta

Cornelia, a fresh crater on Vesta
Cornelia, a fresh crater on Vesta This detail of a Dawn image shows a fresh scarp rimmed crater with a remarkable distribution of bright and dark material in its interior. Most of this bright and dark material originates from the crater rim but some originates much farther down the inwardly dipping crater walls. NASA / JPL / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

Especially curious is the left hand side of the crater where a layer of dark material crops out about half way down the crater wall, below the bright material which crops out from the crater rim. The high resolution of this image also allows the pitted floor of this crater to become visible. Radial streaks of ejecta surround the crater and are superimposed on the older, densely cratered landscape. This landscape is identified as being older than the scarp rimmed crater because the craters it contains are older with less fresh, more eroded rims.

Here's an annotated view:

Interesting things in a Dawn Vesta image
Interesting things in a Dawn Vesta image Interesting things in a Dawn Vesta image of Cornelia craterImage: NASA / JPL / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA