Jeans (Martian crater)

Jeans Crater is an impact crater in the Mare Australe quadrangle of Mars, located at 69.8°S latitude and 205.9°W longitude. It is 80.2  km in diameter and was named after James Hopwood Jeans, and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).[1] The pictures below show dark areas in which frost is disappearing and the dark ground beneath is being exposed.[2] Layers are also visible—probably from the many cycles of mantle deposition.

Why craters are important

The density of impact craters is used to determine the surface ages of Mars and other solar system bodies.[3] The older the surface, the more craters present. Crater shapes can reveal the presence of ground ice.

References

  1. ↑ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature | Jeans". usgs.gov. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-034
  3. ↑ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/stones/

See also

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