Eagle (crater)

Eagle
Eagle Crater
LocationMeridiani Planum, Mars
Coordinates1°57′S 354°28′E / 1.95°S 354.47°E / -1.95; 354.47
Diameter22 m[1]
Depth3 m[1]
DiscovererOpportunity rover
EponymSee list below

Eagle is a 22-metre long impact crater located on the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain, situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) portion of the planet Mars. The Opportunity rover came to rest inside Eagle crater when it landed in 2004. Scientists were delighted that the rover landed there, as the crater contains rocky outcroppings that helped prove that Meridiani was once an ocean floor.

This crater should not be confused with the other, much larger Martian crater Eagle, which was officially named by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature in 1976.[2]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MERFacts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gazetteer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).