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 great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 11, 2026
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A new study, published in Science Advances, has refined some important details about the moon's largest and oldest impact crater, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) on the far side of the moon. The new details ...
New research reveals that Dante Alighieri's Inferno wasn't just a masterpiece of literature: it was a gedankenexperiment in impact physics. From multi-ring craters to shockwaves that reshaped the globe, discover how a 14th-century ...
Planetary Sciences
May 8, 2026
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A half century after NASA's Apollo 17 lunar module lifted off the moon's northeastern near side quadrant, planetary scientists still don't completely understand when or how our moon first formed. They do agree that it involved ...
Planetary Sciences
May 5, 2026
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Human history is littered with expired civilizations, and scholars and archaeologists have made a determined effort to understand why and how civilizations collapse. They've found that symptoms like a growing wealth gap and ...
Astrobiology
Apr 22, 2026
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Earth and the course of life on Earth have been shaped by impacts. Scientists have uncovered links between massive impacts and changes in climate that altered the planet forever. But the further scientists look into the past ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 15, 2026
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The lunar south pole looks chaotic from orbit. Craters heaped upon craters, ancient basins, scarps and slopes tumbling in every direction, it is without doubt, one of the most geologically complicated terrains in the inner ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 15, 2026
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Look up at a full moon on a clear night and you are staring at a face that has been punched, gouged, and battered for 4 billion years. Those dark patches are vast basins blasted open by impacts so colossal they reshaped a ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 13, 2026
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On April 10, Artemis II—humanity's first mission to the moon in more than half a century—will draw to a close when the Orion capsule carrying four crew members detaches from its service module.
Space Exploration
Apr 9, 2026
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Lunar love knows no bounds. Now hurtling home from the moon, the Artemis II astronauts took a poignant page from Apollo 8 earlier this week, proposing deeply personal names for a pair of lunar craters.
Space Exploration
Apr 9, 2026
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