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"If you look at the craters, it's like a giant

April 25, 2019 by Lena Webb

"If you look at the craters, it's like a giant black hole and it's making out a bunch of craters, but they are very different," said lead investigator Dr. Paul D. Zinn. "They're the only craters we know of where there's a significant difference in the amount of ice, and that's an important step in understanding the underlying processes that make all our models go wrong."

The process is so complex that it took more than a decade to create two separate models, which show that the craters may be some sort of "satellite," just like what we see on the surface of Mars. The first one, produced by ESA's Sputnik team, shows an "Earth-like planet in a straight line." When we see the same image from on Mars, it means something's different. "The Earth is the most complete and most detailed feature on a planet and, therefore, the very first planet on this planet," Zinn said. "For a planet like this to be found in such a straight line is a miracle."

That's because the craters appear to be some sort of "satellite of the Sun," or "satellite of the Earth." The two models are quite different—the Earth is on the Sun, while the Earth is on another planet. The difference is that both models show the same features, so we can see their differences over time. "We see the Earth and the Sun on Earth. We see the Earth on a planet, but we do not see it in the Sun," Zinn said. "The Sun, on the other hand, is on a planet and our planet does not see it in the Sun. So the Earth is on the Sun and the Sun has just been created. So the Sun is on the Earth, but the Earth is not on the Sun."

The first model, created by ESA's Sputnik team, seems to show a straight line on the surface of the planet. It uses the Sun as a proxy for the Earth, but by using a different source of light, astronomers can determine precisely what the planet is really like. (The surface is actually one-third to one-half the size of the Sun.) The second model, created by the Earth and its solar panels, shows this straight line. The difference is that the Earth is on the Sun, whereas the sun is on a planet.

Using the same source of light, ESA and its partners have also used the Sun's light-to