An asteroid that slammed into Mars around 2.3 million years ago left one nine-mile wide crater and created 2 billion smaller craters.
Over two million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into Mars, scarring the surface with one massive crater and around two billion smaller individual craters. These secondary craters appear across a region of 1,000 miles (1,800 kilometers), making this asteroid event one of the biggest impacts seen on the Red Planet in relatively recent history. Asteroids massive enough to create widespread destruction like this are estimated to impact Mars just once every 3 million years. The impact occurred at the equator of Mars in a region humanity has named Elysium Planitia; it left behind a main, 8.6-mile (13.9-km) wide and 0.62-mile (1-km) deep crater called Corinto. The secondary craters from the impact, on the other hand, range in size from 656 feet (200 meters) to 0.8 miles (1.3 km) in diameter and extend outward in a large "ray system," according to the scientists behind the results. Despite being 2.3 million years old, the crater and its secondaries — some of which are carved into lava flows originating from the summit of the extinct Martian volcano Elysium Mons — are considered to be extremely young by the team. Related: Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen? "Corinto crater is a fresh impact crater in Elysium Planitia that produced one of the most extensive systems of thermal rays and secondary craters on Mars, extending around 1,243 miles (2,000 km) to the south and covering a nearly 180° arc on Mars," the team wrote in a related study. A view of a reddish-orange planet with a little spacecraft that has solar wings floating to the right. Both are seen in space. The authors explained how…