Astronomy:Virrat (crater)

From HandWiki
Short description: Impact crater on Mars
Virrat
Dinorwic crater area.png
The crater Virrat and its surroundings, in a screenshot in NASA World Wind
PlanetMars
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] : 30°44′S 257°07′E / 30.73°S 257.12°E / -30.73; 257.12
Diameter50.67 km (31.48 mi)
Depth1.3 km (0.81 mi)

Virrat is an impact crater on Mars, southwest of the crater Dinorwic and northeast of Clantas Fossae. Several Virrat crater radii to the north are the craters Koga and Nhill. It is named after Virrat, a town in Finland .[1][2] According to a surface age map of Mars based on US Geological Survey data, the area around Virrat is from the Noachian epoch, which places the area's age at 3.8 to 3.5 billion years ago.[3] At the highest point on its rim, it is about 6,400 metres (21,000 ft) above zero altitude, and it is about 5,100 metres (16,700 ft) at the crater bottom, giving it a depth of 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi).[2]

References

  1. "Virrat". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  2. 2.0 2.1 NASA World Wind 1.4. NASA Ames Research Center, 2007.
  3. "Integrating Global-Scale Mission Datasets – Understanding the Martian Crust". lpi.usra.edu. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1853.pdf.