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An artistic representation, created from simulations, of the impact that gouged out a hole 5,200 miles (8,500km) across and 6,500 miles (10,600km) long in Mars. The giant crater made by an asteroid or comet explains why Mars is so lopsided, with a basin on one hemisphere and high terrain on the other, three separate teams of scientists said on June 25, 2008. |
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists in U.S. offered fresh evidence for the lopsided shape of Mars saying that a monster impact punched the red planet, leaving behind perhaps the largest gash on any heavenly body in the solar system, media reported Friday.
An asteroid or comet whacked Mars
some 4 billion years ago, blasting away much of its northern crust and creating
a giant hole over 40 percent of the surface, researchers said.
"The betting odds have gone up a lot in favor of the impact model," said Walter Kiefer, a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
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Mars is double-faced with the southern hemisphere pockmarked and filled with ancient rugged highlands, and the northern part smoother and covered by low-lying plains.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
At present, Mars is double-faced
with the southern hemisphere pockmarked and filled with ancient rugged
highlands, and the northern part smoother and covered by low-lying plains.
Researchers believe there was a
single giant blow and not several small hits because there's no evidence of
other basins.
(Agencies)
