Haulani in contrast-enhanced colours
Haulani in contrast-enhanced colours
Haulani is one of the youngest craters on Ceres, possibly formed just two million years ago. Landslides on the steep rims of the 34-kilometre-wide crater, as well as the smooth surfaces that are free of smaller craters, are geomorphological clues to the crater’s geologically young age and the role played by water and ice in the subsurface. The image, taken from an altitude of 1470 kilometres by the German Framing Camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, is a contrast-enhanced image in which the rays of material ejected when the crater was formed are more visible, also highlighted by the bluish tint. The impact that created Haulani caused dust and rock to mix with ice in the subsurface and be ejected. The ice later sublimed, leaving behind layered silicate minerals that, due to their structure, scattered short-wave blue sunlight particularly strongly.
