Sunday, November 29, 2020

APOD - Verona Rupes: Tallest Known Cliff in the Solar System

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2020 November 29
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download  the highest resolution version available.

Verona Rupes: Tallest Known Cliff in the Solar System
Image Credit: Voyager 2, NASA

Explanation: Could you survive a jump off the tallest cliff in the Solar System? Quite possibly. Verona Rupes on Uranus' moon Miranda is estimated to be 20 kilometers deep -- ten times the depth of the Earth's Grand Canyon. Given Miranda's low gravity, it would take about 12 minutes for a thrill-seeking adventurer to fall from the top, reaching the bottom at the speed of a racecar -- about 200 kilometers per hour. Even so, the fall might be survivable given proper airbag protection. The featured image of Verona Rupes was captured by the passing Voyager 2 robotic spacecraft in 1986. How the giant cliff was created remains unknown, but is possibly related to a large impact or tectonic surface motion.

Tomorrow's picture: a starless space swan


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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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