I am beginning a series of highlighting the great NASA Educational STEM activities that are available on the internet. This is a follow on activity to the International Observe the Moon Night on Sept 26th of 2020.
Here is a link to the NASA Education Resource where you can find out even more:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/make-a-crater
Here are some example pictures from NASA showing some rayed craters similar to what we create in the video;
A new crater that created in 2013 with bright rays, before and after images:
Scientists figure out the ages of regions and bodies within the solar system by estimating the impact rate and then counting all the craters and estimating the age of the region or body.
Relative ages of craters can also be determined by looking to see what crater is on top of another crater. The craters on top are younger, the older crater on the bottom. At least three layers of craters can be seen in the craters at the center of this image.
Very large craters often have mountain peaks in the center caused by the land rebounding due to the size of the impact. The impact often vaporizes the original asteroid and causes the sides of the crater to be melted and create lava. This is very common on the moon and you can see this on many lunar craters.
Sky Ambassador 