A strange looking pit in Mars’ southern hemisphere has been discovered and it has left scientists baffled as to how it formed.
It resembles the home of a fictional Star Wars monster that could swallow a person whole. This strange looking pit may have been formed from an impact with a rogue space rock – or, it could be something else entirely.
A spectacular new photo taken by the HiRISE instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has exposed a view at the bizarre circular formation and the adjacent ‘Swiss cheese terrain’ on the red planet.
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| A strange looking pit in Mars’ southern hemisphere has been discovered and it has left scientists baffled as to how it formed |
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this amazing image on March 25, during the late phases of summer in Mars’ southern hemisphere, scientists say.
Right now on Mars, the sun stays low in the sky, better exposing the delicate texture of the Martian surface.
Alfred McEwen, of the University of Arizona’s Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, wrote:
“We see many shallow pits in the bright residual cap of carbon dioxide ice (also called “Swiss cheese terrain”). There is also a deeper, circular formation that penetrates through the ice and dust.”
Impacted craters and collapse pits, both are very common on Mars and according to researcher this particular pit could also one of them.
From the viewpoint seized by HiRISE, the menacing-looking depression appears much like the Great Pit of Carkoon, which contained Jabba the Hutt’s flesh-eating sarlacc in the Star Wars series.
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| Jabba the Hutt’s carnivorous sarlacc |
This may seem pretty bizarre feature but it isn't the first time researchers have discovered an unusual crater on Mars.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission was started August 12, 2005, and initiated taking images after reaching orbit in 2006.