Straight Gullies in Fonteia

This image shows examples of straighter, shorter, wider gullies that scientists on NASA's Dawn mission have found on the giant asteroid Vesta. The crater shown here is called Fonteia. The gullies in Fonteia – called "Type-A" gullies – are different from longer, more sinuous gullies that scientists have called "Type-B" gullies. Scientists think these gully varieties have different formation mechanisms.

This image was obtained by Dawn's framing camera on Feb. 7, 2012. North is up in this image.

An annotated version highlights the gullies with white lines.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA