Professor of Mathematics

Paata Ivanisvili

pivanisv@uci.edu · x.com/PI010101

Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine

Paata Ivanisvili

← Possible new impact sites on Mars

Candidate 10: West of Albor Tholus, 13 km from candidate 7

Strong · roughly 80%

Two CTX close-ups of the same 500 by 500 m of lava plains west of Albor Tholus, from May 2014 and August 2025. A round dark spot near the arrow is present only in 2025.
The same 500 × 500 m in May 2014 and August 2025, under the same sun. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

What changed. A round dark spot 35 to 40 m across has sat unchanged on these lava plains in seven images since July 2022.

Why it may be a new impact. An image from 2014, taken under exactly the same sun angle, shows nothing there.

Location
16.949° N, 147.642° E
Absent
22 May 2014
Present
seven images from 28 July 2022 to 28 September 2025
Size
Round dark spot 35 to 40 m across
Confidence
Strong candidate; roughly 80% that it is a new impact.
Nearby
Candidate 7, 13 km away.
Caveat
It lies just 1 km outside a 2022 HiRISE image, so it has never been photographed at high resolution. It lies in the area of a catalogue of new impacts near the InSight lander (Bickel et al. 2025) that could not be downloaded, so it can only be inferred that the catalogue does not list it. Like every candidate here, it is unconfirmed: see the caveat.
Eight CTX images of the same 2 by 2 km patch, from 2014 to 2025. A round dark spot at the arrow is absent in 2014 and present in all seven images from July 2022 to September 2025.
All eight CTX images of the same 2 × 2 km patch, 2014 to 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
A 12 by 12 km CTX view from August 2025 of the lava plains west of Albor Tholus, with a dashed box around the 2 by 2 km patch and an arrow at the spot.
A 12 × 12 km view. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

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