--- description: By comparing photos of the planet's surface, NASA scientists found a fresh crater. title: Before/after photos reveal huge new crater on Mars image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt363acbf63283b6d9/69869095810bbb0e20c91b6e/nasa-mars-new-crater.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Before/After Photos Reveal Huge New Crater on Mars by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 22, 2014 7:36 PM CUT  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univeristy of Arizona by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 22, 2014 7:36 PM CUT Photos taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed a fresh crater [“half the size of a football field](http://mars.nasa.gov/mro/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1640 "undefined"),” on the surface of Earth’s galactic neighbor, NASA said Thursday.  From left: An image taken on Jan. 16, 2012 compared with the image taken on April 6, 2014 confirms that two adjacent fresh craters appeared during that interval. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS The shadowy shape evidently caught scientist Bruce Cantor off guard two months ago. Cantor is in charge of observing Mars weather patterns, and said in a statement that when he investigated older photos of the same place, he was able to determine that the crater first appeared on March 28, 2012. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/109562/nasa-photos-new-crater-mars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/109562/nasa-photos-new-crater-mars/"},"headline":"Before/After Photos Reveal Huge New Crater on Mars","datePublished":"2014-05-22T19:36:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:39.432Z","description":"The war like planet has a new battle scar","url":"https://time.com/109562/nasa-photos-new-crater-mars/","keywords":["Space","Newsfeed","astronomy","NASA","Mars","planet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt363acbf63283b6d9/69869095810bbb0e20c91b6e/nasa-mars-new-crater.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt363acbf63283b6d9/69869095810bbb0e20c91b6e/nasa-mars-new-crater.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New crater discovered on Mars","caption":"New crater discovered on Mars","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univeristy of Arizona","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/109562/nasa-photos-new-crater-mars/","name":"Before/After Photos Reveal Huge New Crater on Mars"}}]}] ```