NASA spots an oddly-shaped crater on Mars, here's how scientists explain it

Impact craters are circular, round-shaped. Not because of the shape of the object that created it, but because of the massive explosion that results from a collision. However, a Mars mission of NASA has captured the photograph of an impact crater that defies this information on the first look. Spotted by the HiRise Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the abnormal shape of the crater has puzzled scientists.

Located in a Martian region called Noachis Terra, the impact crater’s borders don’t follow the usual circular shape but bulge out on one side. The image was clicked by the orbiter’s camera in January.

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Posting a photograph of the crater yesterday on Twitter, HiRise team wrote, “It has the characteristic raised rim that distinguishes it from pits that have simply collapsed.”

HiPOD: A Fresh Impact Crater with an Odd Shape

This odd-shaped hole in Noachis Terra is clearly in impact crater. It has the characteristic raised rim that distinguishes it from pits that have simply collapsed. https://t.co/YwLwR8Zh9Q
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona#Mars #science pic.twitter.com/mkuc1FlaSy — HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) April 18, 2022

Some explanations have been put forward by the scientific community about the odd shape of the crater. Here’s what a member of the HiRise team, University of Arizona’s Shane Bryne, has to say.

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Bryne explains that large blocks of the material located in the northeast and northwest corners of the impact crater appear to have slid into it. He called it an “oblong appearance” as the collapses extended the crater in the particular directions.

There are other odd shaped craters on Mars. Like the mysterious one below, also shared recently by NASA. 

Earth’s neighbouring Red Planet has a lot of ongoing geological activity, which has been discovered and is being actively monitored by space missions to it. On Mars, events like quakes (called marsquakes like earthquakes), soil erosion due to wind and collapsing of land have been observed.

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Earth’s neighbouring Red Planet has a lot of ongoing geological activity, which has been discovered and is being actively monitored by space missions to it. On Mars, events like quakes (called marsquakes like earthquakes), soil erosion due to wind and collapsing of land have been observed.