The crater sits in a huge plain of rocks that are so ancient they were deposited hundreds of millions of years before the very first dinosaurs walked Earth. Although it resides in ancient rock, Tenoumer is much younger, varying in age between 10,000 and 30,000 years old.
Tenoumer, an impact crater in Mauritania, is situated in the western Sahara Desert.
This Sentinel-2 false-color image, recorded on May 16, 2022, shows the dry landscape surrounding the crater which appears in differing tones of brown, tan, and orange.
Asteroid Day is the United Nations-sanctioned day of public awareness of the risks of asteroid impacts, held yearly on 30 June. More than one million asteroids have been found in the Solar System, with lots of more anticipated to be out there. ESAs Planetary Defence Office, ESAs Near-Earth Object Coordination Center, and astronomers around the world are looking up to keep us safe, interacting to ensure we know well in advance if an asteroid is discovered on a clash.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 images of Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania, one of the best-preserved craters on Earth, recorded on May 16, 2022. Noticeable in the center of the image, Tenoumer Crater is 1.9 km (1.2 miles) large. The rims of the crater increase some 110 m (360 feet) high above the base, but the bottom of the crater is covered with a roughly 200 to 300 m (650 to 980 feet) thick layer of sediments.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 image caught on May 16, 2022, of Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania, among the best-preserved craters on Earth. Credit: Contains customized Copernicus Sentinel data (2022 ), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
One of the best-preserved craters in the world lies deep within the Sahara Desert. On Asteroid Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission takes us over the almost-perfectly circular Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania.
Tenoumer Crater, visible in the center of the image, is 1.9 km (1.2 miles) large. The rims of the crater rise some 110 m (360 feet) high above the base, however the bottom of the crater is covered with an around 200 to 300 m (650 to 980 feet) thick layer of sediments.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 images of Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania, one of the best-preserved craters on Earth, recorded on May 16, 2022. The rims of the crater rise some 110 m (360 feet) high above the base, however the bottom of the crater is covered with an around 200 to 300 m (650 to 980 feet) thick layer of sediments.
It was long debated whether the crater was formed by a volcano or meteorite. Scattered rocks around the crater, comparable to basalt, produced the impression of an ancient volcano. A closer exanimation of the structure revealed the craters solidified lava was in fact rock that had actually melted by a meteorite impact.