Macula (planetary geology)

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The Ganesa Macula is the large circular spot in the lower left of this image which is thought to be an ice volcano.

Macula (pl. maculae) is the Latin word for 'spot'. It is used in planetary geology to refer to unusually dark areas on the surface of a planet or moon. They are seen on the icy surfaces of Jupiter's moon Europa and Neptune's moon Triton. The term was adopted for planetary geology when high resolution pictures of Europa revealed unusual new surface features.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Greeley, Ronald; Raymond M. Batson (2007). Planetary Mapping. Cambridge University Press. p. 116. ISBN 0-521-03373-X. 
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