Voyager
captured this view of Ariel's southern hemisphere through the green, blue
and violet filters of the narrow-angle camera; the resolution is about 3
km. Most of the visible surface consists of relatively intensely cratered
terrain transected by fault scarps and fault-bounded valleys (graben). Some
of the largest valleys, which can be seen near the terminator (at right),
are partly filled with younger deposits that are less heavily cratered. |
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Bright
spots near the limb and toward the left are chiefly the rims of small craters.
Most of the brightly rimmed craters are too small to be resolved here, although
one about 30 km in diameter can be easily distinguished near the center.
These bright-rim craters, though the youngest features on Ariel, probably
have formed over a long span of geological time. Although Ariel has a diameter
of only about 1,200 km, it has clearly experienced a great deal of geological
activity in the past. |
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