First craters on Mars spotted 50 years ago
Excerpt from the August 7, 1965, issue of Science News Letter
SPOTTED Using radar, spacecraft have cut through the Venusian clouds to snap images of craters on the planet’s surface. Mead crater (shown) is the largest on Venus at 280 kilometers across.
JPL/NASA
Craters found on Mars — Astronomers are speculating whether the surfaces of other bodies in the solar system, besides Earth’s moon and Mars, are covered with craters from meteorite strikes. The surface of Venus may never be revealed because of its cloud cover.… The Mariner 4 photographs of Mars, man’s first close-up pictures of another planet, revealed the totally unexpected fact that the Martian surface, like Earth’s moon, is peppered with craters. — Science News Letter, August 7, 1965
UPDATE
Earth’s moon and Mars are not alone in their pockmarked appearances. Spacecraft have snapped pictures of impact craters on Mercury, Venus and many of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (see slideshow below). The gas giants, including Neptune, have no hard surfaces. But Jupiter’s gassy body has shown signs of bruising after collisions with comets and other debris (SN Online: 6/4/10). The far-flung worlds of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, have surprisingly few craters, suggesting both are geologically active, or recently were.
