Utopia Planitia is a large plain within Utopia, the largest recognized impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System with an estimated diameter of 3,300 km (2,100 mi). It is the Martian region where the Viking 2 lander touched down and began exploring on September 3, 1976, and the Zhurong rover touched down on May 14, 2021, as a part of the Tianwen-1 mission. It is located at the antipode of Argyre Planitia, centered at 46.7°N 117.5°E. It is also in the Casius quadrangle, Amenthes quadrangle, and the Cebrenia quadrangle of Mars.
Hellas Planitia is a plain located within the huge, roughly circular impact basin Hellas located in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars. Hellas is the third- or fourth-largest known impact crater in the Solar System. The basin floor is about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep, 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deeper than the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin, and extends about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west. It is centered at 42.4°S 70.5°E. It features the lowest point on Mars, serves as a known source of global dust storms, and may have contained lakes and glaciers. Hellas Planitia spans the boundary between the Hellas quadrangle and the Noachis quadrangle.
Odysseus is the largest crater on Saturn's moon Tethys. It is 445 km across, more than 2/5 of the moon's diameter, and is one of the largest craters in the Solar System. It is situated in the western part of the leading hemisphere of the moon—the latitude and longitude of its center are 32.8°N and 128.9°W, respectively. It is named after the Greek hero Odysseus from Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey. Odysseus was discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft on 1 September 1981 during its flyby of Saturn.
Elysium Mons is a volcano on Mars located in the volcanic province Elysium, at 25.02°N 147.21°E, in the Martian eastern hemisphere. It stands about 12.6 km (41,000 ft) above its base, and about 14.1 km (46,000 ft) above the Martian datum, making it the third tallest Martian mountain in terms of relief and the fourth highest in elevation. Its diameter is about 240 km (150 mi), with a summit caldera about 14 km (8.7 mi) across. It is flanked by the smaller volcanoes Hecates Tholus to the northeast, and Albor Tholus to the southeast.
The North Polar Basin, more commonly known as the Borealis Basin, is a large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars that covers 40% of the planet. Some scientists have postulated that the basin formed during the impact of a single, large body roughly 2% of the mass of Mars, having a diameter of about 1,900 km early in the history of Mars, around 4.5 billion years ago. However, the basin is not currently recognized as an impact basin by the IAU. The basin is one of the flattest areas in the Solar System, and has an elliptical shape.
An ejecta blanket is a generally symmetrical apron of ejecta that surrounds an impact crater; it is layered thickly at the crater's rim and thin to discontinuous at the blanket's outer edge. The impact cratering is one of the basic surface formation mechanisms of the solar system bodies and the formation and emplacement of ejecta blankets are the fundamental characteristics associated with impact cratering event. The ejecta materials are considered as the transported materials beyond the transient cavity formed during impact cratering regardless of the state of the target materials.
Eberswalde, formerly known as Holden NE, is a partially buried impact crater in Margaritifer Terra, Mars. Eberswalde crater lies just to the north of Holden, a large crater that may have been a lake. The 65.3-km-diameter crater, centered at 24°S, 33°W, is named after the German town of the same name, in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's rules for planetary nomenclature. It was one of the final four proposed landing sites for the Mars rover Mars Science Laboratory mission. This extraterrestrial geological feature lies situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of Mars. Although not chosen, it was considered a potential landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, and in the second Mars 2020 Landing Site Workshop it survived the cut and was among the top eight sites still in the running.
The geology of Mars is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mars. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet. It is analogous to the field of terrestrial geology. In planetary science, the term geology is used in its broadest sense to mean the study of the solid parts of planets and moons. The term incorporates aspects of geophysics, geochemistry, mineralogy, geodesy, and cartography. A neologism, areology, from the Greek word Arēs (Mars), sometimes appears as a synonym for Mars's geology in the popular media and works of science fiction. The term areology is also used by the Areological Society.
Lomonosov is a crater on Mars, with a diameter close to 150 km. It is located in the Martian northern plains. Since it is large and found close to the boundary between the Mare Acidalium quadrangle and the Mare Boreum quadrangle, it is found on both maps. The topography is smooth and young in this area, hence Lomonosov is easy to spot on large maps of Mars.
Heimdal is a relatively recent impact crater on the planet Mars. It is a simple crater which lies in Vastitas Borealis, the northern plain. It is named after the Norwegian town of Heimdal.
The most conspicuous feature of Mars is a sharp contrast, known as the Martian dichotomy, between the Southern and the Northern hemispheres. The two hemispheres' geography differ in elevation by 1 to 3 km. The average thickness of the Martian crust is 45 km, with 32 km in the northern lowlands region, and 58 km in the southern highlands.
The Mars ocean theory states that nearly a third of the surface of Mars was covered by an ocean of liquid water early in the planet's geologic history. This primordial ocean, dubbed Paleo-Ocean or Oceanus Borealis, would have filled the basin Vastitas Borealis in the northern hemisphere, a region that lies 4–5 km below the mean planetary elevation, at a time period of approximately 4.1–3.8 billion years ago. Evidence for this ocean includes geographic features resembling ancient shorelines, and the chemical properties of the Martian soil and atmosphere. Early Mars would have required a denser atmosphere and warmer climate to allow liquid water to remain at the surface.
Columbus is a crater in the Terra Sirenum of Mars. It is 119 km in diameter and was named after Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (1451–1506). The discovery of sulfates and clay minerals in sediments within Columbus crater are strong evidence that a lake once existed in the crater. Research with an orbiting near-infrared spectrometer, which reveals the types of minerals present based on the wavelengths of light they absorb, found evidence of layers of both clay and sulfates in Columbus crater. This is exactly what would appear if a large lake had slowly evaporated. Moreover, because some layers contained gypsum, a sulfate which forms in relatively fresh water, life could have formed in the crater.
Rheasilvia is the largest impact crater on the asteroid Vesta. It is 505 km (314 mi) in diameter, which is 90% the diameter of Vesta itself, and is 95% the mean diameter of Vesta, 529 km (329 mi). However, the mean is affected by the crater itself. It is 89% the mean equatorial diameter of 569 km (354 mi), making it one of the largest craters in the Solar System, and at 75°S latitude, covers most of the southern hemisphere. The peak in the center of the crater is 200 km (120 mi) in diameter, and rises 22.5 km from its base, making it one of the tallest mountains known in the Solar System.
A low-aspect-ratio layered ejecta crater is a class of impact crater found on the planet Mars. This class of impact craters was discovered by Northern Arizona University scientist Professor Nadine Barlow and Dr. Joseph Boyce from the University of Hawaii in October 2013. Barlow described this class of craters as having a "thin-layered outer deposit" surpassing "the typical range of ejecta". "The combination helps vaporize the materials and create a base flow surge. The low aspect ratio refers to how thin the deposits are relative to the area they cover", Barlow said. The scientists used data from continuing reconnaissance of Mars using the old Mars Odyssey orbiter and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They discovered 139 LARLE craters ranging in diameter from 1.0 to 12.2 km, with 97% of the LARLE craters found poleward of 35N and 40S. The remaining 3% mainly traced in the equatorial Medusae Fossae Formation.
Inter-crater plains on Mercury are a land-form consisting of plains between craters on Mercury.
Aromatum Chaos is a deep depression, in what is considered chaotic terrain. It is the source of the outflow channel Ravi Vallis, and is situated at the eastern end of Xanthe Terra, in the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of Mars, located at 1.09°S 317.0°E. Aromatum Chaos is 91.5 km (56.9 mi) in length, and has an average width of about 30 km (19 mi).
The gravity of Mars is a natural phenomenon, due to the law of gravity, or gravitation, by which all things with mass around the planet Mars are brought towards it. It is weaker than Earth's gravity due to the planet's smaller mass. The average gravitational acceleration on Mars is 3.72076 m/s2 and it varies.
