US EditionNASA’s Mars Express Just Found a 'Butterfly' on The Red Planet
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NASA’s Mars Express Just Found a 'Butterfly' on The Red Planet
ESA’s Mars Express mission has uncovered a fascinating geological formation on the Red Planet: a massive crater that eerily resembles a butterfly. This “Martian butterfly” was spotted in the Idaeus Fossae region, where the impact of a space rock caused two distinct lobes of material to be flung outward, forming what appears to be the insect’s outstretched wings. The study detailing this discovery was published by the European Space Agency (ESA) …
Martian butterfly crater reveals low angle impact and buried lava history
Paris, France (SPX) Dec 04, 2025 ESA's Mars Express orbiter has observed an impact crater in Mars's northern lowlands whose shape resembles a butterfly, created when an incoming space rock struck the surface at a shallow angle. The main crater, which appears somewhat like a walnut from orbit, measures about 20 km east to west and 15 km north to south and sits within the Idaeus Fossae region. The impact threw material preferenti
An image of Mars Express reveals a crater with a strange shape. Nicknamed butterfly crater, it is the result of a low-angle meteorite impact in a Martian region that reveals other interests.
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