Caloris Basin
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The Caloris Basin, also called Caloris Planitia, is an impact crater on Mercury about 1350km in diameter. Caloris is Latin for heat and the basin is so-named because it is near the subsolar point when Mercury is at perihelion. The crater is surrounded by a ring of mountains about 2 kilometers tall.
Caloris was likely created by the impact of an object 100 kilometers or more in diameter; this impact is believed to have penetrated the crust into the planet's mantle. It is generally believed that energy from the impact was focused, as with a lens, such that it traveled through the planet and created about 500,000 square kilometers of disrupted terrain on the opposite side. This area is covered with hills, some of which are 1800 meters tall.
See also:
- Mare Orientale (on the Moon)fr:Caloris Basin