This bizarre elongated crater is a Martian mystery

This crater, known as Orcus Patera, is a strange, elliptical crater located near Mars's equator. Roughly 240 miles long by 90 miles wide, its elongated shape doesn't fit with standard models of crater formation, leaving astronomers with a baffling mystery.


Picture is (C) copyright to NASA

Orcus Patera is located between two of Mars's biggest volcanoes, Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons (which is also the highest peak in the solar system). Beyond its immense length and width - it's not quite as long as the Grand Canyon, but five times as wide - it rises up over a mile above the surrounding area, and it reaches depths more than a third of a mile beneath the Martian surface.

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