A molten flood

A flood of impact melt swept away from the rim of Necho crater (5°N, 123.1°E). LROC Narrow Angle Camera observation M119041553, LRO orbit 2676, January 25, 2010; resolution 0.56 m/p, above field of view = 540 meters (see full image HERE) [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].Brett DeneviLROC News SystemLarge impacts are catastrophic events for the local area. Besides the huge craters they leave behind (this one is 30 km or 19 miles across), impacts heat portions of the crust to such high temperatures that rocks melt and flow like lava, as seen in today's featured image. These melts run downhill, cool and solidify, leaving behind beautiful flow features also highlighted in several past featured images.A reduced resolution view of the impact melt outside the eastern rim of Necho, from a mosaic of M119041553L/R; field of view = 5.3 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].The scene above is a wider view outside the eastern rim of Necho crater (the detailed view in the first image is in the upper left corner here). Almost everything you see is coated in impact melt, which flowed from the crater, moving boulders along with it and ponding in small topographic lows, which now look like smooth, frozen lakes. What ...