Impact cratering is the process by which hypervelocity collisions of extraterrestrial bodies (e.g., asteroids, comets, meteoroids) with a planetary surface excavate material and form characteristic circular depressions. It involves three main stages: contact and compression, where shock waves propagate and generate extreme pressures and temperatures; excavation, during which target material is displaced outward and upward, forming a transient cavity and ejecta; and modification, where gravitational collapse and rock rheology reshape the transient cavity into a final crater morphology. Impact cratering is a fundamental geologic process that influences crustal structure, surface evolution, and volatile redistribution on solid bodies throughout the Solar System.
A new Southwest Research Institute-led study proposes a solution to a longstanding puzzle in planetary science: What caused the concentration, assembly, and preservation of millimeter-sized, spherical mineral grains within ...
Planetary Sciences
6 hours ago
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A new Southwest Research Institute-led study compared eight AI-generated lunar crater catalogs, discovering that many of their published performance metrics drop sharply when the databases are evaluated using the same scientific ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 6, 2026
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The moon is not the only natural object traveling through space alongside Earth. Several small asteroids travel around the sun in near lockstep with our planet. And just like Earth, these space rocks also take a year to complete ...
Astronomy
Jul 3, 2026
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A study conducted at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris uses images from NASA's Dawn mission and a Bayesian inversion of the Hapke photometric model to analyze avalanches and ejecta deposits on the asteroid Vesta. ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 29, 2026
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How do you teach someone to look at the moon? Not glance at it, the way we all have on a clear night, but truly read it, the way a geologist reads a hillside. That was the challenge NASA set itself before Artemis II, because ...
Space Exploration
Jun 26, 2026
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New research led by Curtin University and QUT (Queensland University of Technology) has revealed that repeated asteroid impacts may have been the dominant force shaping early Earth, delivering vast amounts of heat into the ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 25, 2026
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In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth's oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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Curtin University researchers have determined the most precise age yet for the oldest known impact crater on Earth, providing new insight into how meteorite strikes shaped the planet during its earliest history.
Earth Sciences
Jun 23, 2026
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245
We're used to a lot of different natural things falling out of the sky. These can include snow, rain and sometimes even frogs (yes, really). All of these relate to weather phenomena.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 10, 2026
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The first few billion years of Earth's history saw the rise of life, the atmosphere and the oceans. Still, that time is shrouded in mystery: Not many rocks remain that preserve a record of those early iterations of our modern ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 9, 2026
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