The News:
Mars' face split by huge impact?
By Alicia Chang The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 06/26/2008 12:37:03 AM MDT
LOS ANGELES — Why is Mars two-faced? Scientists say fresh evidence supports the theory that a monster impact punched the red planet, leaving behind perhaps the largest gash on any heavenly body in the solar system.
Today, the martian surface has a split personality. The southern hemisphere of Mars is pockmarked and filled with ancient rugged highlands. By contrast, the northern hemisphere is smoother and covered by low-lying plains.
Three papers in today's journal Nature provide the most convincing evidence yet that an outside force was responsible.
According to the researchers, an asteroid or comet whacked a young Mars about 4 billion years ago, blasting away much of its northern crust and creating a giant hole over 40 percent of the surface. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.
Planetary science: forming the martian great divide.
The Borealis basin and the origin of the martian crustal dichotomy
Mega-impact formation of the Mars hemispheric dichotomy
Implications of an impact origin for the martian hemispheric dichotomy
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