Asteroid and Planetary Surfaces

Images captured by spacecraft showing the rugged surfaces of asteroids and planets, highlighting craters, ejecta blankets, and geological features.

A wrinkle ridge within Brisbane Z crater in Mare Australe. This wrinkle ridge is located within the crater Brisbane Z.

This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft features the sharp rim of a steep-walled crater on Ceres.

Impact melt that flowed from the rim shortly after the formation of Necho crater.

The Highest-resolution Image from MESSENGER's Second Mercury Flyby

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Aelia crater with a larger, more degraded crater to the left. Dark and bright material crops out from Aelia's rim and slumps towards its center extending in rays outside the crater's rim.

Rivers of Craters

V for Victoria

The Edge of Erte

The scene shows a complex of craters in mid-southern latitudes on Ceres, just west of the peaks known as Niman Rupes. NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image on June 15, 2016.

This image from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft shows the fine texture on the inner wall of an unnamed impact basin 100 km (62 mi.) in diameter, situated immediately west of the larger Dali basin.

$NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Azacca Crater has a prominent set of north-south trending fractures. Its floor is relatively smooth and its rim has terraces descending toward its floor. Azacca was named for the Haitian god of agriculture.$

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's looks at a mare-highlands boundary in northern Mare Frigoris.

Numerous small, bright spots appear on asteroid Vesta, as seen in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. This region is just north of the equator, to the west of Marcia crater.

This image, from NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft which launched in 1974, shows young craters superposed on smooth plains. Larger young craters have central peaks, flat floors, terraced walls, and radial ejecta deposits.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Lepida crater, located in Vesta's Floronia quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, taken on June 6, 2016, shows an area of Ceres that includes a small, bright crater.

Name This Crater!

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a part of asteroid Vesta's surface that is covered by heavily cratered regolith. Regolith is the fine-grained material that covers most of Vesta's surface.

Appreciating Mercury's Brahms

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows part of the sharp, fresh rim of a large crater on asteroid Vesta. There is some bright material slumping towards the center of this crater but this is mostly overshadowed by the dark material.

Meteor crater on the surface of planet Mars

A View of Camoes in Mercury's South Polar Region

The Super Position

Third Time's a Charm

Picking Apart Praxiteles

Mare surface in Sinus Aestuum near a lunar exploration site proposed in the late 1950s.

This view, taken on Oct. 21, 2016, from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Megwomets Crater on Ceres. Megwomets is the largest crater in this image, at right of center.

This image of Canuleia AV-L-28, from the atlas of the giant asteroid Vesta, was created from images taken as NASA's Dawn mission flew around the object, also known as a protoplanet.

This double ring basin (top center of image) was photographed during NASA's Mariner 10's second encounter and shows two craters about 30 km in diameter which have been engulfed by smooth plains on the floor of the inner ring.

Crater Down

A Visit with Vivaldi

A Scarp Among Craters

Punctuated Equilibrium

Darkness Falls

We are Glass

This image was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on July 16, 2018 from an altitude of about 47 miles (76 kilometers). The center of this picture is located at about 14.7 degrees north latitude and 241.5 degrees east longitude.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this high-resolution view of the cratered surface of Saturn's moon Rhea as the spacecraft flew by the moon on Oct. 17, 2010.

Meteorites

This image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a view of boulders, on the floor of Rutherfurd crater, about to disappear into the shadows of dusk.

March Madness

Boulders perched on the summit of the central peak of Tsiolkovskiy crater are seen in this image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the dramatic-looking crater named Haulani on Ceres.

Boulder in Recht Crater

This image taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a small secondary crater chain near the southwestern margin of Mare Orientale, within the Inner Rook Mountains. The ~125-meter-long chain lies within the Orientale multi-ring basin.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft takes a detailed look at the northern part of the huge Odysseus Crater on Saturn's moon Tethys. The crater dominates the left half of this view of Tethys.

Off-Central Peaks

Looking Out the Window

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the ejecta blanket and rim of Timocharis crater in southeastern Mare Imbrium.

Close-up Shot of To Ngoc Van

Close-up view of the lunar highlands, northeast of Clavius crater, taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows many highly degraded craters in the top part of the image. These craters are so degraded that their rims are only partially visible.

A Ring of Wrinkle Ridges

Close-Up of Crater on Surface of Rhea

This image, taken on June 25, 2015 by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a portion of the southern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers), with a resolution of 1,400 feet (410 meters) per pixel.

Wheel Tracks from Landing Site to Hills

This image, taken by the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows several unnamed craters superimposed upon one another. The low sun angle enhances the topography of this densely cratered region.

Subsection of Nirgal Vallis Image

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the rim of Ikapati Crater on Ceres. The rough features around the rim of this impact scar give way to smoother, lightly cratered terrain in the lower half of the image.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Octavia crater, located in Vesta's Marcia quadrangle, just south of Vesta's equator. Octavia's rim is fresher on the right side and more degraded on the left side.

Small Crater in Oceanus Procellarum

Degas' Impression

Dantu crater on Ceres, seen in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft at left, reveals structures hinting at tectonic processes that formed the dwarf planet's surface. Linear structures are spread over the crater floor.

Turtle Power!

Ts'ai Wen-Chi and the Long Scarp

The Crossing of Endeavour

This image of the eastern rim of Occator Crater was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 10, 2018 from an altitude of about 22 miles (36 kilometers).

This picture, taken only minutes after NASA's Mariner 10 made its closest approach to Mercury, is one of the highest resolution pictures obtained. Abundant craters in various stages of degradation dot the surface.

MESSENGER Discovers Volcanoes on Mercury

A Haven for Hollows

The Dark Mark

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 24, 2015, shows dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) with a resolution of 1,400 feet (410 meters) per pixel.

Is this Crater Circular

NASA's Dawn spacecraft views a crater at top center that touches the rim of Messor Crater (25 miles, 40 kilometers), shown at left.

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel, was taken on August 27, 2015.

Exposed

This view of Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on December 10, 2015, shows an area in the southern mid-latitudes of the dwarf planet.

Enterprise Rupes

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows small rilles (scars) on asteroid Vesta's surface, mostly concentrated in the right half image, presumably due to impacts throwing out boulders, which crash across the surface scouring the rilles as they go.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Kondos Crater on Ceres. Dawn took this image on June 10, 2016, from its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface.

An 740 meter diameter crater with bouldery walls.

Flooding Mercury's Surface

Mercury's Surface Variety

Date acquired April 05, 2013 This striking image of Kuiper shows the crater in a new perspective. This image highlights the crater's smooth impact melt and central peaks. Kuiper, first seen by Mariner 10, is an easily identifiable feature on Mercury's surface due to its bright rays, similar to Hokusai. This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. During the first two years of orbital operations, MESSENGER acquired over 150,000

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft is located in asteroid Vesta's Caparronia quadrangle.

Large impact on Callisto's Southern Hemisphere

This image, one of the first obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in its low altitude mapping orbit, shows part of the rim of a fresh crater on the giant asteroid Vesta. The terrain is known as the Heavily Cratered Terrain in the northern hemisphere.

A junction between the rims of three craters on the floor of Peary crater near the lunar north pole is evident in this image taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Vertigo

This image was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on July 16, 2018 from an altitude of about 67 miles (107 kilometers). The center of this picture is located at about 22.3 degrees north latitude and 240.3 degrees east longitude.

Callisto's Varied Crater Landscape

Small crater within Aitken crater.

Go Instead Where There Is No Path and Leave a Trail

Petrarch's Rough Neighborhood

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 23, 2015, from a distance of 3,169 miles (5,100 kilometers). Resolution in the image is about 1,565 feet (477 meters) per pixel.

Movie of Global Imaging Coverage to Date

Behold Bernini!

Caloris Basin on Mercury, is one of the largest basins in the solar system, its diameter exceeds 1300 kilometers and is in many ways similar to the great Imbrium basin on the Moon. This image is from NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft which launched in 1974.

Cratered terrain very similar to that on the Moon is shown in this TV photo of Mercury taken by NASA's Mariner 10. Numerous small craters and linear grooves radial to the crater can be seen.

The interior of Urvara Crater (101 miles, 163 kilometers wide) is featured in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft taken on June 2, 2016 at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface.

The central portion of this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft features a mildly-winding depression carved by water. Helas basin was likely formed around four billion years ago by a giant asteroid or comet impact.

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