Dawn Survey Orbit Phase, First orbital phase |
Dawn Survey Orbit Phase, First orbital phase |
Jul 17 2011, 09:09 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
I think it's time we start a new thread
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Jul 19 2011, 12:07 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
Boys and girls, it's "Rampant Speculation Time...."
The patterns on the South Pole crater floor do resemble both Miranda, and Earthly sea-floor spreading. Perhaps a shock-melted mantle zone convected for a while, rafting surface debris and local volcanics into linear rows from spreading crack centers. Fun to speculate. Vesta had it's "bell rung" pretty good with the impact, maybe there was a surface wave interference pattern that distributed things in the pattern seen. Relaxation after impact, with the core wanting to re-center, and perhaps migration of the rotation axis, could cause some of the features we see. Also the floor striations could be caused by compressional wrinkling from this relaxation, plus landslides and collapse blocks from the crater rim. Is the central mountain a volcano, an intrusive diapir, an infall debris pile, a garden-variety crater central mound, or a combination? Stay tuned! |
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