Impact craters make it possible to study the subterranean portions of planetary bodies . Impact craters like the one in the fabulous photo that heads this post .
Photographed on the surface of Mars, this recent crater formed between February 2005 and July 2005, north of Valles Marineris. The "photographer" is the HiRISE camera , aboard NASA’s MRO orbiter.
HIRISE
The dark colors in the image show a part of the ejection blanket (which is outside the crater, due to the impact of the meteor), including small pieces of distant rock. The blue probably represents dark basalt rocks, a volcanic rock that on Earth is commonly found in places like Hawaii, on top of the dust-covered surface.
The radial features of the crater are made up of ejection and are often referred to as "rays." The rays are used to help identify newer craters and find them in the images. The oldest craters do not have rays, as they have been eroded.
The HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera is the most powerful of those installed aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe, a spacecraft launched on August 12, 2005 to advance of human knowledge of Mars through detailed observation