This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an elongated depression from three merged craters.
<p>The raised rims and ejecta indicate that these are impact craters rather than collapse or volcanic landforms. The pattern made by the ejecta and the craters suggest this was a highly oblique (low angle to the surface) impact, probably coming from the west.
</p><p>There may have been three major pieces flying in close formation to make this triple crater. Be sure to <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/ANAGLYPH/ESP/ORB_049900_049999/ESP_049987_1450_ESP_041350_1455/ESP_049987_1450_ESP_041350_1455_RED.browse.png">view the anaglyph</a> for a more detailed look.
</p><p>This is a stereo pair with <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_041350_1455">ESP_041350_1455</a>.
</p><p>The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.1 centimeters (10.3 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 78 centimeters (30.7 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
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The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace &amp; Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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