IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v437y2005i7062d10.1038_nature04069.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Secondary craters on Europa and implications for cratered surfaces

Author

Listed:
  • Edward B. Bierhaus

    (Lockheed Martin, Space Exploration Systems, MS S8110)

  • Clark R. Chapman

    (Southwest Research Institute)

  • William J. Merline

    (Southwest Research Institute)

Abstract

Making an impact A new analysis of images of Jupiter's icy moon Europa taken by the Galileo probe, may prompt a rethink on the nature of cratered surfaces in general. For many years the impact craters on solid planets and smaller bodies have been regarded as mainly caused by direct (primary) impact of asteroids and comets. But Bierhaus et al. conclude that the Galileo data show that more than 95% of Europa's small craters, less than a kilometre in diameter, are ‘secondary’, formed by material ejected during a primary impact of a comet or asteroid. That means that there have been few small comets passing close to Jupiter in recent years, but brings their numbers into line with model predictions. Recalculations could be in order in other matters too, since cratering is used as a measure of relative surface ages for Solar System objects.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward B. Bierhaus & Clark R. Chapman & William J. Merline, 2005. "Secondary craters on Europa and implications for cratered surfaces," Nature, Nature, vol. 437(7062), pages 1125-1127, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:437:y:2005:i:7062:d:10.1038_nature04069
    DOI: 10.1038/nature04069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04069
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature04069?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:437:y:2005:i:7062:d:10.1038_nature04069. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.