Professor of Mathematics
Paata Ivanisvili
Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine
← Possible new impact sites on Mars
Candidate 2: Plains near Phlegra Dorsa, eastern Elysium
Promising · roughly 60%
What changed. A compact dark spot about 70 m across appears in the May 2026 image. It is absent in the earlier images, three of which have nearly the same sun angle as the 2026 image, so it is not a shadow.
Why it may be a new impact. A known cluster of new craters lies about 10 km away, but that cluster formed in 2016–2018, and this spot is still absent in the 2018–2022 images, so it is a separate, later event.
- Location
- 24.886° N, 161.419° E
- Absent
- 24 November 2016, 5 April 2018, 13 August 2020 and 22 June 2022
- Present
- 11 May 2026 (image W10_092765_2031)
- Size
- Compact dark spot about 70 m across
- Confidence
- Promising, roughly 60% that it is a new impact.
- Caveat
- The spot is fainter than candidate 1, the earlier images are noisy, and only one image shows it. No HiRISE footprint covers it; the nearest is 6 km away. Like every candidate here, it is unconfirmed: see the caveat.
