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A Visit with Vivaldi

This image, taken with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), shows the southern portion of Vivaldi basin and its continuous ejecta blanket. Named for the Italian Baroque composer Antonio Lucia Vivaldi, Vivaldi is a double-ring basin, a structure that can form when a large meteoroid impacts a rocky planet. The smooth floor may be the result of volcanic eruptions that partially flooded the basin some time after impact. The texture of the ejecta blanket is emphasized by the low-angle illumination. The crater chains surrounding Vivaldi were created by material thrown out of the basin target site during impact that then fell back onto the surface.

Date acquired: August 26, 2012

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington