A chunk of interplanetary debris recently slammed into Mars and left this fresh crater and spray of ejecta

A small crater and surrounding blast zone on Mars, as imaged by the HiRISE instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on November 27, 2016. (Source: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) Small asteroids and chunks of cometary debris frequently slam into the surface of Mars, gouging out new craters. Thanks to a high resolution camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists can often spot such impacts relatively soon after they occur. The image above, acquired by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a compelling example. It shows a crater and blast zone from an impact that likely occurred as recently as this past August, and no later than January 2014, according to HiRISE scientists. The crater is about 13 feet acrossis about 13 across. That means the asteroid or comet fragment that gouged it out was probably about three to six feet across. I'm drawing that inference based on a 2013 ...