Cleopatra (crater)

Cleopatra crater

Radar image of Cleopatra by Magellan
Feature type	double ring impact crater
Coordinates	65°48′N 7°06′E / 65.8°N 7.1°E / 65.8; 7.1Coordinates: 65°48′N 7°06′E / 65.8°N 7.1°E / 65.8; 7.1
Diameter	105 km
Eponym	Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra, initially called Cleopatra Patera, is an impact crater on Venus, in Maxwell Montes.

Cleopatra is a double-ring impact basin about 100 kilometers (62 mi) in diameter and 2.5 kilometers (1.6 mi) deep. A steep-walled, winding channel a few kilometers wide (Anuket Vallis) breaks through the rough terrain surrounding the crater rim. A large amount of lava originating in Cleopatra flowed through this channel and filled valleys in Fortuna Tessera. Cleopatra is superimposed on the structures of Maxwell Montes and appears to be undeformed, indicating that Cleopatra is relatively young. The crater is named after Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII.

Cleopatra is a nearly circular double ring crater on Venus, 2–3 km deep and 105 km in diameter. A patera is geologic feature defined as a crater formed by impact or volcanic origin. Cleopatra patera is unusual in that its origin was debated for twelve years. A volcanic origin initially was supported due to non-impact geologic aspects, such as having a low rim, a surrounding plains-forming unit, and a non-concentric nature of its inner basin, as well as its proximity to Maxwell Montes. However, as more recent missions to Venus improved in the clarity of topographic imagery from Arecibo radio telescope and Venera 15/16 spacecrafts, the structures seen in the crater has cleared the scientific controversy and has been since identified as an impact crater.

Cleopatra patera has features in that of a double ring impact crater. The crater rim is scalloped and the center of the crater is steeply slanted down to a smooth dark crater floor. A central peak is found in the center of the crater floor and outside the inner crater is masses of "coarse hummocky terrain." The plains surrounding the crater is smooth and bright, but there are some dark deposits around the topographic depressions just north of the crater. These dark deposits are interpreted to be "shock-melt material" equivalent to ejecta blanket material; however, the dark deposits to the south are "ridge slopes." The outflow of material to the right of the crater is lava flows which have spilled from the bowl shape of the crater due to the impact hitting the steep side of Maxwell Montes, occurring at impact. When the magma chamber at the floor of Cleopatra erupted, subsidence occurred explaining the large depth of the crater.