Latest asteroid Vesta images showing 2 unusual craters

I never cease to be amazed at the amount of detail we're obtaining regarding some of the smallest and most elusive objects in our solar system ... namely, comets and asteroids.

In this instance, NASA has just released the latest images taken of asteroid Vesta by the currently orbiting Dawn spacecraft.

As we've seen with other asteroid images, Vesta also is highly pock-marked and eroded by eon upon eon of meteorite impacts. However, in the latest closeup image, we can clearly see 2 quite unusual craters that appear to have more of an interior structure than the normal, run of the mill meteorite crater that is usually plain, smooth and relatively unremarkable in appearance. Currently there is no immediate or obvious explanation for these 2 "out of the ordinary" craters.

According to Dawn's chief scientist Chris Russell of the University of California in Los Angeles ...

The interiors of some craters are decorated with very dark streaks of unknown origin (see image). "I haven't seen anything like that before," said Russell. The more detailed views that Dawn will obtain as it spirals closer might help reveal their origin ...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2cd76ec0051f.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/33f0d056207d.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/19798bb6b677.jpg[/atsimg]

Well, whatever the cause may eventually be determined to be ... still undeniably brilliant images coming to us from the depths of uncharted space


ETA:

I just had to throw in the following enlargement showing the upper left quadrant of the main "unusual" crater.
Just my imagination at play here but it sure looks like a slice of cake with icing ... and a rubber duck to the side and below it ... amazing what the imagination can come up with !

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fed5eaf7b801.jpg[/atsimg]

The striations, some of which seem to span the whole thing, are also really interesting. Healed scars of impacts which affected the whole body? Dunno.

A lot of crater chains as well.

I would guess they are more recent impacts.

Do they look photoshopped to anyone else?

I won't speculate on the validity of the source as it's apparently reputable or why these images would be doctored but just wanted to voice my observation for what it's worth.

Cool post.

sry but there are 3 unusual craters

none in the pictures shows normal impact craters..

its more like something is boiling inside the comet Oo

I was thinking when I looked at the image, I'd say there's 3 unusual craters. All 3 main craters in that image look about the same. I'm not an expert on crater formation, but I would think we might also have to consider the composition of the impacting body, not just that of Vesta. Though, I'm sure someone smarter than me has already thought of that.
At this point, having been woken up at 4 in the morning by the strangest thunderstorm I've ever heard, I'm not even too sure I'm experiencing reality at the moment, so I should probably just leave it at that for now.
What I really wanted to comment on, however...

Originally posted by Phage

A lot of crater chains as well.

I was telling a friend of mine once about people thinking crater chains were evidence of ancient space battles...and, instead of saying "crater chains", I said "chater crains". To this day, I haven't lived that down.

Originally posted by CLPrime
I was telling a friend of mine once about people thinking crater chains were evidence of ancient space battles...and, instead of saying "crater chains", I said "chater crains". To this day, I haven't lived that down.

LOL I'm so tempted to use that as my next quote
:::makes a note:::

It almost looks like an enormous vacuum hose was positiond over those three locations and "dusty" earth was pulled up leaving behind streaks cause by the dirt as it loses stability and falls back toward the center. I guess it could also resemble a massive downturn of wind that pushes the finer particles away from the center forming an elevated ring. Anyone know anything that could produce an extremely high speed narrow airflow in space. I guess its probably a much more recent collision event, due to there being three of these I would guess it has recently passed through an asteroid cluster or belt if they are truly more recent impacts.

reply to post by CLPrime


I usually try to keep my posts to ATS firmly rooted in science and reality. But certainly, I'm considering all angles behind the keyboard and I most definitely had the thought "That's a practice target." But of course, I would never offer that as a legit answer lol. Just wanted to comment on that.

They simply look like more recent impact sites, the older ones seem "weathered" and "softened".

Originally posted by Phage
The striations, some of which seem to span the whole thing, are also really interesting. Healed scars of impacts which affected the whole body? Dunno.

A lot of crater chains as well.
[editb
y]edit on 8/2/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)