Space probes have witnessed a big impact crater being formed on Mars – the largest in the Solar System ever caught in the act of excavation.
A van-sized object dug out a 150m-wide bowl on the Red Planet, hurling debris up to 35km (19 miles) away. In more familiar terms, that’s a crater roughly one-and-a-half times the size of London’s Trafalgar Square.
Scientists detected the event using the seismometer on the US space agency’s InSight lander. The probe picked up the ground vibrations.
