News Astronomy

Impact may have transformed Mars

New mapping of planet unveils the solar system’s largest known impact structure

By Ashley Yeager

- More than 2 years ago

Mars has two faces: a northern hemisphere where the ground is smooth and low, and a southern hemisphere of high elevation and many craters.

SLAM DUNK Mars may host the solar system’s largest impact structure. The impact itself, illustrated here, may have given Mars its unusual dichotomy of high, cratered crust in one hemisphere and smooth, low crust in the other.