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A Shared Bombardment History

A Shared Bombardment History
Photojournal: PIA16841
Source: NASA/GSFC/ASU/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Published: March 25, 2013

Studying meteorites from the asteroid Vesta helps scientists understand the event known as the 'lunar cataclysm,' when a repositioning of the gas giant planets destabilized a portion of the asteroid belt and triggered a solar-system-wide bombardment.

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These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft show Oppia crater on asteroid Vesta, after which Oppia quadrangle is named. Oppia crater is a distinctive crater because it has an unusually shaped rim, whi...
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Topography and Albedo Image of Oppia Crater
Topography and Albedo Image of Oppia Crater
NASA's Dawn spacecraft looked down on Ceres' equatorial region to capture this view of intensely cratered terrain. The image is centered at approximately 3 degrees south latitude, 267 degrees east ...
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Dawn LAMO Image 150
Dawn LAMO Image 150
This image of Titan's night side was taken during Cassini¿s very close flyby of the smoggy moon on Feb. 15, 2005. The image shows Titan's thick atmosphere illuminated from behind by sunlight. A d...
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Titan's night side
Titan's Night Side
This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows a portion of the northern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 450 f...
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Dawn HAMO Image 8
Dawn HAMO Image 8
Dramatic edge-on Cassini views of Saturn's E ring, like these side-by-side images, reveal for the first time a double-banded structure. The structure is similar to that of Jupiter's gossamer ring a...
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Edge-on views of Saturn's E ring
Double-Banded E Ring
Amateur astronomer Christopher Go took this image of a storm on Saturn from his veranda in Cebu, Philippines, on March 13, 2010. The arrow indicates the location of the storm, around 40 degrees sou...
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Storm on Saturn
Amateur photography of Saturn by Christopher Go
These three enhanced-color views of an equatorial region on Saturn’s moon Rhea were made from data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The colors have been enhanced to show colorful splotches an...
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These three enhanced-color views of an equatorial region on Saturn’s moon Rhea were made from data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
The Colorful Equator of Rhea
This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the southeastern rim of Occator Crater. Compacted material forms spurs along the crater wall. A group of roughly parallel, braided fractures can b...
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Dawn LAMO Image 51
Dawn LAMO Image 51
The moon Enceladus passes behind the larger moon Tethys, as seen in this pair of Cassini spacecraft images. The image on the left was taken a little more than a minute before the image on the righ...
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Enceladus passes behind the larger Tethys, as seen in this pair of Cassini images.
Enceladus Behind Tethys
This image of Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, features a large, steep-sided mountain and several intriguing bright spots. The mountain's height is estimated to be about 4 miles (6 kilometer...
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Dawn Survey Orbit Image 42
Dawn Survey Orbit Image 42
The Centaur upper stage of the launch vehicle moments before lifoff. This image was captured from a video of the launch, which was taken from a camera on the launch tower. The video is available...
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Centaur Stage
Centaur Stage
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Gegania quadrangle, just south of Vesta's equator. Rubria is the crater with dark and bright material above Divalia Fossa an...
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Rubria Crater, Apparent Brightness and Topography Images
Rubria Crater, Apparent Brightness and Topography Images
This still from a movie shows an image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft layered on a digital terrain model of an unusual hill containing a dark-rayed impact crater and nearby dark deposit on asteroi...
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Dark Hill on Asteroid Vesta Movie
Dark Hill on Asteroid Vesta Movie
Mimas and Pandora remind us of how different they are when they appear together as in this Cassini spacecraft image. Although they are both moons of Saturn, Pandora's small size means that it lac...
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Pandora, Mimas and Saturn's rings
Two Moons Passing in the Night
This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows peaks in the center of Dantu Crater (78 miles, 125 kilometers) on Ceres. Dantu is named for a Ghanan god associated with the planting of corn.
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Dawn LAMO Image 149
Dawn LAMO Image 149
This false-color infrared image, obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows clouds of large ammonia ice particles dredged up by a powerful storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere. Large updrafts dr...
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This false-color infrared image, obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows clouds of large ammonia ice particles dredged up by a powerful storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
Updrafts of Large Ammonia Crystals in Saturn Storm
Epimetheus floats in the distance below center, showing only the barest hint of its irregular shape. Pandora hides herself in the ringplane, near upper right, appearing as little more than a bump. ...
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The unlit side of Saturn's rings, Epimetheus and Pandora
Ring-Hugging Moons
As they wheel about the planet, Saturn's sunlit rings often exhibit dark, radial markings called spokes. Spokes are seen only in the broad B ring, and can also appear bright in certain viewing geo...
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Spokes on Saturn's rings
Spokes on the Wheel
The northern polar region of Saturn's moon Tethys seen in this Cassini flyby image is a ponderously ancient surface. Above the prominent peaked crater Telemachus are the remnants of a very old cra...
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an image of Tethys' northern polar region
Old Northern Terrains
Bright spokes grace Saturn's B ring in this Cassini spacecraft snapshot that also features a couple of the planet's moons large and small. Dione (1,123 kilometers, or 698 miles across) can be seen...
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Bright spokes on Saturn's B ring, Dione and Pandora
Spoke Embellishment
Haulani Crater is one of the youngest craters on Ceres, as evidenced by its sharp rims and bright, bluish material in this enhanced color composite topographic map from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
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Haulani Crater Topographic Map
Haulani Crater Topographic Map
This map of Titan's surface illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's close flyby of the smog-enshrouded moon on April 16, 2005. At closest approach, the spac...
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Titan
Cassini's April 16 Flyby of Titan
Sinuous clouds and hurricane-sized vortices mingle in Saturn's northern skies. This view looks toward a region located at 70 degrees north latitude on Saturn. Despite the level of detail visible...
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Clouds and hurricane-sized vortices in Saturn's northern skies
Storms of the High North
Saturn's two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) glows to the left of airless Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles acros...
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Titan and Rhea
Titan's Kiss
Some of the interesting variety among Saturn's many known icy satellites is revealed in these Voyager 2 images. Enceladus' bright, relatively uncratered terrain is coated with water ice. The smoo...
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Enceladus & Iapetus
Enceladus & Iapetus

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