Complex Impact Craters Morphologies Created by Granular Projectiles

Most, high and low energy, experiments, devoted to reproduce impact crater morphologies as those observed on planets and satellites, are done smashing solid projectiles on solid or granular targets. Our experiments, instead, are aimed to understand the behavior of granular projectiles impacting on granular targets. This approach is a by-product of the improvements in astronomical instrumentation and data processing capabilities, made during the past few years, which allowed the recognition of the granular structure of several asteroids. Planetary surfaces are also covered by regolith, produced by the fragmentation of impacting bodies, giving them, also, a granular structure. Comparing our experimental results with impact craters on the moon, mars and satellites, we can show that the different morphologies of complex impact craters are reproduced more faithfully by using granular materials for both the projectile and the target. C) Experimental central dome crater D) Un-named central dome crater on Mars E) Experimental central peak crater F) Tycho crater, Moon, central peak G) Experimental ray crater H) Kepler crater, Moon, ray crater