Oppy's view of a baby crater on Mars. Click for larger. Credit for image: Opportunity Rover, portion of Navcam mosaic (Sol 1825; PIA 1185). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The intrepid Martian rover Opportunity spotted this crater on Mars.  According to the press release (below) this is a baby crater, only 100,000 years old ok, ok a baby in crater years.

I tweaked this image a little, to see the original click the link below, I do want to mention this image is part of a Navcam mosiac and what a great job the rover team did sewing the thing together.  Tweaking sometime causes that to show up and this time it’s hard to spot.

The press release from the rovers homepage:

Opportunity has seen many sights during her nearly 2000 sols on Mars, but recently came face-to-face (or wheel-to-rock) with the youngest crater ever seen by either Mars Exploration Rover!

Scientists say this small crater called “Resolution” formed sometime in the past 100,000 years. Most features studied by Opportunity are much older, including rocks over 3 billion years old! In contrast to these seniors, Resolution is just a baby.

Unlike a baby’s soft skin, a newborn crater starts out sharp, and only softens over time. As craters age, the “sandblasting” action of the Martian wind erodes rocks ejected during crater formation and fills its bowl with sand. Signs of this crater’s youth are fresh rocks on the crater rim and an empty bowl. The newer crater also drapes over older surrounding dunes. Finding youth pays off: scientists can compare Resolution to older craters to learn how fast wind changes the Martian surface over time.

Credit for image: Opportunity Rover, portion of Navcam mosaic (Sol 1825; PIA 1185).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech