Comments on: X Crater: First Class

By: Cirquelar

Cirquelar — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:55:36 +0000

Examining where they cross could show that stratigraphic relationship between the two (i.e. which one is over the other), thereby inferring their relative age to each other. The two elliptical craters at the ends of the chains may just be a coincidence, but you can see other elliptical-like craters along the chain (though not as pronounced). A crater chain like this may be composed on many fragments impacting at once thereby making a crater look elliptical when in fact its just a bunch of material impacting simultaneously creating a ‘trough’. As for direction, bigger blocks are going to land more proximal to the crater than smaller blocks, but these craters are probably within 1-sigma of their mean diameter along the chain. I might hazard the guess that the crater chains hit top-bottom, then right-left assuming the elliptical craters are globs of tiny ejecta blocks landing at once, while large blocks are spread out and forming somewhat larger craters earlier in the chain. These are cool to study, but distant secondaries on Mars are a bit more informative (and confusing) about their origin and for crater chronologies.

By: Thomas BarSinister

Thomas BarSinister — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:45:59 +0000

is it possible, if the object strikes at a shallow enough angle, for it to skip like a flat stone skipping on water, leaving a chain of craters?

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:45:17 +0000

A celestial ‘No Craters’ sign?

If so, it hasn’t worked!

Classic image and symbol-oidalia.

By: James

James — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:37:45 +0000

It looks like one of symbols used in cuneiform, the ancient writing of the middle east.

By: Peachy

Peachy — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:05:26 +0000

Gee. And here I was, thinking that’s where the monolith was buried.

By: Blizno

Blizno — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:37:54 +0000

6. Angus Says:
“It’s probably a sign from Jeebus.”

Is Angus the only one who sees this for what it really is?
Rotate the picture a bit counterclockwise (anti-clockwise for those not living in North America) and you get a crucifix. Could it BE more obvious?

YHWH, billions of years ago, put that crucifix on one of the hardest planets for us to study as a warning. When we have advanced enough to see and recognize this Sign, the Rapture is soon to follow.

By: AshleyCakes

AshleyCakes — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:14:02 +0000

Ooooh, “Contact!”

By: CB

CB — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:33:16 +0000

I bet it’s a “+”.

Because if there’s one thing I learned from Contact, it’s that when the aliens try to communicate with us, it’ll be in the form of math homework.

By: Arik Rice

Arik Rice — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:30:44 +0000

It is an “x”…

Or a “+”…

Oooooooh…

By: Buzz Parsec

Buzz Parsec — Tue, 10 May 2011 05:13:43 +0000

@Endyo:

I think the elongated crater is not the initial impact crater, just the first (or last) of the series of secondary debris hits that formed the chain. Phil notes that it is too small to be the primary crater, which must be off-image to either the left or right. To me it looks like that particular chunk must have been ejected at a very shallow angle, just barely cleared the rim and landed on the down-slope at an even more shallow angle. Remembering from freshman physics, the distance a projectile will fly depends on its initial velocity and the angle to vertical. Maximum distance obtains at a 45 degree angle. The angle of launch is equal to the angle of impact, and since the impact angle is close to horizontal, the impact point has to be closer to the launch point than the impact points for objects ejected with the same velocity but at steeper angles. Since the oblong crater is at the end of the chain, it has to be one of the closer impacts (unless it came from the right at a very very shallow angle, but with much greater velocity than all the other objects), so most likely the primary crater is to the left of the image.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 10 May 2011 02:27:40 +0000

might the lines be a result of comet/asteroid breaking up before hitting? Kinda like Shoemaker/Levy. Would explain nearly equal crator sizes.

By: jcm

jcm — Tue, 10 May 2011 02:24:02 +0000

Craterdolia!

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:41:28 +0000

“Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!”

- Marvin the Martian

(Doubtless tricked into targeting Mercury by Bugs Bunny)

By: Rodger T

Rodger T — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:38:38 +0000

arrrrrrrrrrrrr,so that`s where me treasure be buried.

By: jess tauber

jess tauber — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:49:53 +0000

Its the third smaller line that makes the figure- if it turns out to have a mathematically significant angle to the other two then you have your absolute PROOF that G-D needs a better drafting set.

By: JJA

JJA — Mon, 09 May 2011 17:58:48 +0000

Would that cross be oriented towards the east, by any chance...?

By: Feroxx

Feroxx — Mon, 09 May 2011 17:47:12 +0000

Nono, I don’t think that’s an ‘X’.

I know an elder sign when I see one…

*gulp*

By: toasterhead

toasterhead — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:07:40 +0000

So if my understanding of the Indiana Jones canon is correct, under that intersection should be a series of snake-infested tunnels leading to some sort of talisman necessary to proceed to Act III

By: Evolving Squid

Evolving Squid — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:06:16 +0000

Of course, now every [anal pore] conspiracy theorist or UFO “enthusiast” is going to use those intersecting crater chains as evidence of some kind of extraterrestrial cover-up. It may seem like I’m being flippant, but I’m not… people have died over these kind of way-out beliefs.

It’s a scary thought.

By: kuhnigget

kuhnigget — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:55:42 +0000

@ Buffalodavid:

Col. Klink. HA!

By: Endyo

Endyo — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:12:07 +0000

Two things I noticed. First, the initial impact crater from the left appears to have impacted on the slope of the large crater… which means it had to come in at a low angle to eject the plume but high enough to get over the large crater’s wall. Also, that same initial impact point as a dot in it. I can only assume that is a smaller more recent impact crater.

It’s also interesting to me that the secondary craters are so large… most close to the size of the original. Is that attributed to the low gravity of mercury? In fact it seems like the more vertical of the two has a smaller intial impact thn ejecta craters… unless some of those are just random recent impacts.

Also just something I noticed… the left to right line looks to be the more recent.

By: buffalodavid

buffalodavid — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:59:52 +0000

Pareidolia is subjective, but shrink the photo down to a thumbnail, and I see a pentagram. Interplanetary Devil worship. Masons on Mercury.

(In Col. Klinck’s voice….) Hoagland!!!!!

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:57:09 +0000

The Truth is Out There…

By: arcblast

arcblast — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:42:35 +0000

epic!! it’s a testament to this planet’s violent past… it says the scale is 116 km across, which means that some of these fallout craters could probably be several kilometers across. i can’t imagine how powerful an impact must be that it spews out debris that makes kilometere-wide craters of it’s own! madness!

By: Angus

Angus — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:27:26 +0000

It’s probably a sign from Jeebus.