CRATERS IN A SANDBOX
Large lunar craters have stories to tell about explosive collisions of
meteorites with the moon. But to interpret them fully, researchers need to
learn in detail how they are created. Two teams have discovered that balls
dropped into sand and other granular matter form craters remarkably
similar to those on the moon. In the 16 May PRL, one team reports the
relationships between a colliding object's energy and the diameter and
depth of impact craters. A second team, reporting in the 4 September PRL,
recreated a variety of lunar crater shapes and examined the relationship
between shape and energy of impact.
(J. S. Uehara et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 194301
AND A. M. Walsh et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 104301)
Links to the papers:
http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v90/e194301
http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v91/e104301
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v12/st8