Beautiful Young Crater in Icarus

A beautiful, young crater inside of the complex crater Icarus. Field of
view 550 meters from LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M156367058L,
LRO orbit 8177, April 2, 2011; 0.6 meters resolution over an angle of
incidence 10.53° from 58.61 kilometers [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State
University].

Sarah Braden
LROC News System

Icarus is a large, complex crater (diameter 93.7 km) with a central peak, located at 5.584°S, 186.998°E. Icarus is named after the mythical Greek flyer. The Featured Image shows a young, fresh crater (located at 5.929°S, 187.696°E) superposed on the older terraces of Icarus. The ejecta of the impact is higher in reflectance compared to the surroundings since the newly excavated material has been exposed to space weathering for a relatively short time. Over time space weathering causes the reflectance of fresh regolith to decrease. The ejecta of the crater in the Featured Image will fade over hundreds of millions of years, until it can no longer be distinguished from the rest of Icarus crater.

While the rim and terraces of Icarus are heavily degraded by subsequent impacts, the crater's central peak is still quite tall. The central peak rises about 4475 meters above the crater floor! ...