The article highlights how the Vallis Schrodinger and Vallis Planck canyons on the moon were formed by a dramatic asteroid impact, which excavated these canyons in roughly ten minutes through high-speed debris. David Kring and his team investigated these canyons using NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, revealing their extraordinary size of over 165 miles long and 1.5 miles deep while noting their mysterious existence on the moon's far side, undetectable from Earth. This insight contrasts the slow erosion process responsible for carving Earth’s Grand Canyon, emphasizing the dynamic geological processes of celestial bodies.
This was a dramatic impact that was followed by a series of smaller impact events that excavated these canyons in, you know, roughly 10 minutes.
These are extraordinary canyons, but they're hidden, if you will, and kind of mysterious because they're on the far side in the lunar South Pole region.
To better understand how this impact basin and its accompanying canyons were created, Kring teamed up with Danielle Kallenborn and Gareth Collins.
Not that I would have wanted to be on the lunar surface, but I would have liked to have been a safe distance above the surface to watch all of this unfold.
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