Starship Asterisk*

Beyond wrote:
That zoomify is a real hoot

Well, i scoured the whole backside and didn't find any evidence of any Alien spaceships or bases.

deathfleer wrote:I dont believe that it is one of the largest crater basin in the solar system, there should be many larger ones in the large planets.

geckzilla wrote:

deathfleer wrote:
I dont believe that it is one of the largest crater basin in the solar system,
there should be many larger ones in the large planets.

I'm not aware of them. Could you point a couple of them out?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Polar_Basin_%28Mars%29 wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]The North Polar Basin is the large blue low-lying area at the northern end of this topographical map of Mars. Its elliptical shape is partially obscured by volcanic eruptions (red, center left). Also shown is Hellas Planitia ~ size of Aitken.[/color][/b]

---

<<The North Polar Basin, or Borealis basin, is a large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars that covers 40% of the planet. Chryse Planitia, the landing site of the Viking 1 lander, is a bay which opens into this basin.

One possible explanation for the basin's low, flat and relatively crater-free topography is that the basin was formed by a single large impact. Two simulations of a possible impact sketched a profile for the collision: low velocity (6 – 10 km/s), oblique angle and diameter 1,600 - 2,700 km. Topographical data from the Mars Global Surveyor are consistent with the models and also suggest that the elliptical crater has axes of length 10,600 km and 8,500 km, centered on 67°N, 208°E, though this has been partially obscured by later volcanic eruptions that created the Tharsis bulge along its rim. There is evidence for a secondary rim as well. This would make the North Polar Basin by far the largest impact crater in the Solar System, approximately four times the diameter of the next largest craters, the South Pole – Aitken basin on Earth's Moon and Hellas Planitia on the southern hemisphere of Mars.>>

deathfleer wrote:I dont believe that it is one of the largest crater basin in the solar system, there should be many larger ones in the large planets.

neufer wrote:

Beyond wrote:
That zoomify is a real hoot

Well, i scoured the whole backside and didn't find any evidence of any Alien spaceships or bases.

That's because the aliens who inhabit the Far-side of the moon are all Flatlanders.

They are preparing this very moment to attack the internet, invade our computer screens and take over the world

neufer wrote:

Beyond wrote: Well, i scoured the whole backside and didn't find any evidence of any Alien spaceships or bases.

That's because the aliens who inhabit the Far-side of the moon are all Flatlanders.

They are preparing this very moment to attack the internet, invade our computer screens and take over the world

Beyond wrote:When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.... you're in Asterisk*

Tszabeau wrote:

neufer wrote:

Beyond wrote:
Well, i scoured the whole backside and didn't find any evidence of any Alien spaceships or bases.

That's because the aliens who inhabit the Far-side of the moon are all Flatlanders.
They are preparing this very moment to attack the internet, invade our computer screens and take over the world

Sublunareans?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloris_Basin wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Comparison of the original size estimation of the Caloris Basin (in yellow) with the size estimation based on new images from the MESSENGER probe (in blue).[/color][/b]

---

<<The Caloris Basin, also called Caloris Planitia, is a large impact crater on Mercury about 1,550 km in diameter, one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. Caloris is Latin for heat and the basin is so-named because the Sun is almost directly overhead every second time Mercury passes perihelion.

The Caloris Basin was discovered on images taken by the Mariner 10 probe in 1974. It was situated on the terminator—the line dividing the daytime and nighttime hemispheres—at the time the probe passed by, and so half of the crater could not be imaged. Later, on January 15, 2008, one of the first photos of the planet taken by the MESSENGER probe revealed the crater in its entirety.

The crater was initially estimated to be about 1,300 km in diameter, though this was increased to 1,550 km based on subsequent images taken by MESSENGER. It is ringed by mountains up to 2 km high. Inside the crater walls, the floor of the crater is filled by lava plains, similar to the maria of the Moon. Outside the walls, material ejected in the impact which created the basin extends for 1,000 km, and concentric rings surround the crater.
Pantheon Fossae in Caloris Basin

In the center of the basin is a region containing numerous radial troughs that appear to be extensional faults, with a 40 km crater located near the center of the pattern. The exact cause of this pattern of troughs is not currently known.

Bodies in the inner solar system experienced a heavy bombardment of large rocky bodies in the first billion years or so of the solar system. The impact which created the Caloris Basin must have occurred after most of the heavy bombardment had finished, because fewer impact craters are seen on its floor than exist on comparably-sized regions outside the crater. Similar impact basins on the Moon such as the Mare Imbrium and Mare Orientale are believed to have formed at about the same time, possibly indicating that there was a 'spike' of large impacts towards the end of the heavy bombardment phase of the early solar system. Based on MESSENGER's photographs, Caloris' age has been determined to be between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years.

The giant impact believed to have formed Caloris may have had global consequences for the planet. At the exact antipode of the basin is a large area of hilly, grooved terrain, with few small impact craters that are known as the Chaotic Terrain (also 'Weird Terrain'). It is thought by some to have been created as seismic waves from the impact converged on the opposite side of the planet. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this terrain formed as a result of the convergence of ejecta at this basin’s antipode. This hypothetical impact is also believed to have triggered volcanic activity on Mercury, resulting in the formation of smooth plains. Surrounding Caloris Basin is a series of geologic formations thought to have been produced by the basin's ejecta, collectively called the Caloris Group.

Mercury has a very tenuous and transient atmosphere, containing small amounts of hydrogen and helium captured from the solar wind, as well as heavier elements such as sodium and potassium. These are thought to originate within the planet, being 'out-gassed' from beneath its crust. The Caloris Basin has been found to be a significant source of sodium and potassium, indicating that the fractures created by the impact facilitate the release of gases from within the planet. The Weird Terrain is also a source of these gases.>>

Art wrote:

That's because the aliens who inhabit the Far-side of the moon are all Flatlanders.

Wolf Kotenberg wrote:Wow, I wonder how many of those round ones are hits the Moon took instead of the Earth ?

Wolf Kotenberg wrote:Wow, I wonder how many of those round ones are hits the Moon took instead of the Earth ?