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 image, taken on June 18, 2015 by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) -- a mountain 3 miles (5 kilometers) high, surrounded by relatively smooth terrain, can be seen here.

Wuthering Heights

This mosaic from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft provides a detailed view of the features and structures associated with the peak-ring basin Raditladi.

Cratered Isidis Plain

Tupo Crater on Ceres is seen in this view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. This crater, located in the southern hemisphere of Ceres, was named for the Polynesian god of turmeric. Dawn captured the scene on Dec. 24, 2015.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft sees Occator Crater, home of the brightest area on Ceres, also has an intriguing rim. The jagged slopes of this basin, and linear features on its floor, contrast with the relatively smooth terrain around it.

A Crack in the Floor

Gazing into the Mariner 10 Gore

This image of asteroid Vesta from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a region of the surface that is rather smooth in appearance which is located in Vesta's Marcia quadrangle, near the Vestan equator.

This view of the Cerean crater Victa was captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Dec. 19, 2015. The steep-walled crater is approximately 19 miles (30 kilometers) in diameter, and was named for the Roman goddess of food and nourishment.

The Marius Hills pit is a possible skylight in a lava tube in an ancient volcanic region of the Moon called the Marius Hills. This image was taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows two medium-sized craters at high northern latitudes on Ceres.

Pit, No Pendulum

So few Small Craters on Callisto

This image NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows is located in Vesta's Rheasilvia quadrangle, near Vesta's south pole. Severina crater has a fresh, sharp rim and a smaller, presumably younger, crater on its rim.

This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 22, 2015, from a distance of 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometers) with a resolution of 1,600 feet (480 meters) per pixel.

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft's Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) acquired this view of Mercury's surface illuminated obliquely from the right by the Sun.

Hello, Hodgkins!

CratARRRs!

Targeted Observations Reveal Unprecedented Detail

Lomonosov Crater, Day and Night

Peak-a-boo!

Buto Facula - A Palimpsest on Ganymede

During its flyby of Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft acquired high-resolution images of the planet's surface. This image was obtained on January 14, 2008.

Seeing Double

NASA image release January 14, 2010LROC WAC image of Tycho crater.

NASA's Mariner 10 took this picture about an hour after it passed under the South Pole of Mercury in 1974.

Arsia Mons Mosaic

This image from an animated 'flyover' of the workspace of NASAs Phoenix Mars Landers was taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 14 (June 8, 2008), or the 14th Martian day after landing.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captures a northeast-trending wrinkle ridge cuts across the plains of Mare Imbrium.

What Lurks in the Shadows

This Space for Vent

Radiating from Rembrandt

This picture from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows terrain on Ceres in which the rim of a more recent impact crater, at center, has partially collapsed into its adjacent neighbor, just below. Boulders are visible in and around the younger, smaller crater.

Mare Ingenii may be best known for its prominent lunar swirls, which are high albedo surface features associated with magnetic anomalies.

This image of Ceres' limb was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on May 30, 2018 from an altitude of about 280 miles (450 kilometers).

One of the most intriguing features on Ceres, Occator crater, is seen in this oblique view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft and is home to the brightest areas on Ceres. Dawn took this image on Oct. 18, 2015.

It's Not Mt. Fuji ...

When NASA's Dawn spacecraft sent the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta to the ground, scientists were fascinated by an enormous mound inside a big circular depression at the south pole. You need 3D glasses to view this image.

AS14-69-9523 (February 1971) --- This 500mm vertical frame taken from the Apollo 14 spacecraft is of the Apollo 16 proposed landing site Descartes . The actual location of the target area is near the center of the picture. This photograph was taken on revolution 27 with a 56 degree sun angle. The large bright crater is approximately one kilometer in diameter and has a distinctive ray pattern which serves as an excellent landmark.

NASA's MESSENGER's high-resolution images obtained during the mission's second Mercury flyby have revealed a number of irregularly shaped depressions on the floor of Praxiteles crater.

Unnamed Hollows

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows many fresh craters, several with bright ejecta rays, which were formed by impacts into the floor of asteroid Vesta's south polar basin.

A Study in Dark and Light

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the surface of asteroid Vesta with its framing camera on August 11, 2011. It was taken through the camera's clear filter. The image has a resolution of about 260 meters per pixel.

It's a Complex World

These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Urbinia quadrangle, in Vesta's southern hemisphere. The mottled appearance of the slump and small gullies around the fresh rim of the crater.

The Environs of NEAR Shoemaker's Landing Site

Endeavour Crater in Context

The chaotic floor of Necho crater attests to the dynamic environment immediately after the impact event.

AS10-31-4537 (18-26 May 1969) --- This near vertical photograph taken from the Apollo 10 Command and Service Modules shows features typical of the Sea of Tranquility near Apollo Landing Site 2. HOLD PICTURE WITH PRONOUNCED LINEAR FEATURE PARALLEL TO LEFT MARGIN. The proposed landing area for Apollo 11 (Lunar Landing Site 2) is a relatively smooth maria area in the upper right quadrant of the photographed area. Apollo 10 traveled from the bottom to the top of the picture. The prominent linear feature at left is Hypatia Rille (called U.S. 1 by the Apollo 10 crew). The prominent crater centered in Hypatia Rille at top left is Moltke AC (code name Chuck Hole ). Moltke, the prominent crater to the right of Hypatia Rille, is centered near 24.2 degrees east longitude, and 0.6 degrees south latitude.

Bigger Crater Farther South of 'Victoria' on Mars

In Ares Vallis, teardrop mesas extend like pennants behind impact craters, where the raised rocky rims diverted the floods and protected the ground from erosion. This image is from NASA's Mars Odyssey, one of an 'All Star' set.

This image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows dark materials excavated by later small impacts show up clearly on the bright ejecta of a small lunar crater to the west.

Peeking Into the Sunlight

Tectonized Thakur

The Orientale basin.

This close-up view captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows darkened radial jets caused by the impact of Curiosity's sky crane, which helped deliver the rover to the surface of Mars.

Low Sun image of a fresh crater in the lunar highlands. Boulders are scattered within and around the 550 m crater.

Callisto: Pits or Craters

Astronomie. Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel

First Image of MESSENGER's Extended Mission

Ghosts in the Dark

Boulders on Phobos

The Apollo 15 Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector - A Fundamental Point on the Moon

Night Falls on Mercury

Rim of Saddle Region on Eros

Radial Erosion on Mars by Mars Odyssey

This image shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft flying above Vesta, based on an artist's concept of the surface of the giant asteroid.

Rupes Recta

Remnants of the Imbrium Impact

Striated Blocks in Aristarchus Crater

Kuiper³

Flow Ejecta and Slope Landslides in Small Crater

The Wall

Heart of Darkness

Hollows, Hollows, Hollows

Eroded Layered Material in Southwest Utopia Planitia

Evidence of Volcanic Activity on Mercury

Small Impact Crater

Chloride Salt Deposit in Southern Highlands of Mars

The tortured southern polar terrain of Enceladus appears strewn with great boulders of ice in this fantastic view, one of the highest resolution images obtained so far by Cassini of any world. Some smearing of the image due to spacecraft motion is apparent in this scene, which was acquired as Enceladus raced past Cassini's field of view near the time of closest approach. At the time, the imaging cameras were pointed close to the moon's limb (edge), rather than directly below the spacecraft. This allowed for less motion blur than would have been apparent had the cameras pointed straight down. Thus, the terrain imaged here was actually at a distance of 319 kilometers (198 miles) from Cassini. At this fine scale, the surface is dominated by ice blocks between 10 and 100 meters (33 and 330 feet) across. The origin of these icy boulders is enigmatic. Scientists are interested in studying the sizes and numbers of the blocks in this bizarre scene, and in understanding whether terrain covered

These images show cratered regions near the moon's Mare Nubium region, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's LROC instrument. Each image shows a region 1,400 meters (0.87 miles) wide. the bottoms of both images face lunar north. The image below shows the location of these two images in relation to each other.

Seeing to New Depths (Anaglyph)

Mars digital-image mosaic merged with color of the MC-26 quadrangle, Argyre region of Mars. This image is from NASA's Viking Orbiter 1.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows part of a large crater that has an irregularly shaped, fresh rim and is distinctive because it has many outcrops of dark and bright material originating from its rim and from the interior slope of the crater.

Several sequences were acquired by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter looking across the illuminated limb to quantify scattered light.

Humphrey on the Inside

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

This image was captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera's (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite. The moon's Hayn Crater, located just northeast of Mare Humboldtianum, is an exquisite example of a complex crater. The central peak complex in the image above is dramatically illuminated by the low Sun casting long shadows across the crater floor. The floor of Hayn crater contains spectacular remnants of the impact event impact melt, slump blocks, and complex debris. In some areas, rocks on the floor have cracked and eroded into fields of boulders. NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University b a href= http //www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html rel= nofollow NASA image use policy. /a /b b a href= http //www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html rel= nofollow NASA Goddard Space Flight Center /a /b enables NASAs mission through four scientific endeavors Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and

. Smooth Plains in Mercury's North

A Close-Up View of Mercury's Colors

What's in A Name

Peak-Ring Basin Close-Up from the Second Mercury Flyby

Copernicus is 93 km wide and is located within the Mare Imbrium Basin, northern nearside of the Moon.

As NASA's Cassini soared above high northern latitudes on Saturn's moon Dione, the spacecraft looked down at a region near the day-night boundary.

The iconic bright spots of Occator Crater are seen up close in this image of Ceres. This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft reveals a central dome with linear features on and around it.

A volcano summit pit crater.

This anaglyph shows the region where NASA's Deep Impact mission sent a probe into the surface of comet Tempel 1 in 2005. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Blue Degas

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