I gotcher extinction event RIGHT HERE, buddy.

[unixronin]

New data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor are strong evidence that the Borealis basin on Mars, long believed to be of volcanic origin, is in fact the largest known impact structure in the solar system.

We're talking an impact structure 5300 miles in diameter, left by an impactor estimated at 1200 miles diameter.  Holy CRAP, that had to have been one hell of a bang.  I'm not even going to attempt to calculate the approximate equivalent yield.

According to the NASA article, it covers about 40% of the surface of Mars.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I've driven 1400 miles in a day ... once. When I was a lot younger, and was driving a 375HP hot-rod Camaro SS350, cruising close to 100mph most of the distance. It was still a long haul, and I was glad to find an open motel and stop.

(I'd planned to stop that night in Rapid City, SD, after leaving Des Moines that morning. Turned out there was a church convention in town. I didn't find a motel with a vacancy sign lit until I hit Gillette, Wyoming.)