Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Craters



Via Bad Astronomy this very cool dual crater shot.  If this site isn't on your blogroll to scope out a couple times a week, yours is the great loss.

Obviously, that's a volcano on the right: Emi Koussi, in northern Africa. But look to the left, almost at the edge of the picture. See that faded ring? That's Aorounga - an impact crater, some 10 - 15 km wide, formed when a chunk of cosmic debris hit the Earth about 300 million years ago! So these are two craters, one formed from processes happening deep below the Earth, and one from events from far above. Yet both can be seen at the same time, from one vantage point: orbiting our planet somewhere above the surface but beneath the rest of the Universe.


Kinda makes you feel a bit small and insignificant....

 

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