Hellas Planitia

Hellas Planitia
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Viking orbiter image mosaic of Hellas Planitia
LocationHellas quadrangle, Mars
Coordinates42°24′S 70°30′E / 42.4°S 70.5°E / -42.4; 70.5
Diameter2,300 km (1,400 mi)
Depth7,152 m (23,465 ft)
Topographic map of Hellas Planitia and its surroundings in the southern uplands, from the MOLA instrument of Mars Global Surveyor. The crater depth is 7,152 m (23,465 ft) below the standard topographic datum of Mars.[1]

Hellas Planitia /ˈhɛləs pləˈnɪʃiə/ is a plain located within the huge, roughly circular impact basin Hellas[a] located in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars.[3] Hellas is the third- or fourth-largest known impact crater in the Solar System. The basin floor is about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep, 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deeper than the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin, and extends about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west.[4][5] It is centered at 42°24′S 70°30′E / 42.4°S 70.5°E / -42.4; 70.5.[3] It features the lowest point on Mars, serves as a known source of global dust storms, and may have contained lakes and glaciers.[6] Hellas Planitia spans the boundary between the Hellas quadrangle and the Noachis quadrangle.

  1. ^ "Martian weather observation". Mars Global Surveyor. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. MGS radio science measured 11.50 mbar at 34.4° S 59.6° E −7152 meters
  2. ^ "Hellas". USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Hellas Planitia". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  4. ^ The part below zero datum, see Geography of Mars#Zero elevation
  5. ^ "Section 19-12". Goddard Space Flight Center. Remote sensing tutorial. NASA. Archived from the original on 30 October 2004.
  6. ^ Bleamaster, Leslie F. III; Crown, David A. (19 March 2010). "Geologic Map of MTM -40277, -45277, -40272, and -45272 Quadrangles, Eastern Hellas Planitia Region of Mars". U.S. Geological Survey Publications Warehouse. Retrieved 30 June 2024.


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