I love 'anomalies' in space because they trigger my scifi, space opera instincts. This one is more about planets being geologically messy, but it's still fascinating.
Also,
> On the surface, Mars is a geologically asymmetrical planet: Its southern hemisphere contains towering mountains and deep craters, whereas the northern hemisphere is composed of low flat lands.
Earth is quite asymmetrical too: there is more land above sea level in the northern than southern hemisphere, and viewing from space shows the Pacific Ocean covers an enormous, and disproportionate, area. Choosing sea level is arbitrary, since there are mountains and crevasses underwater... but it shows that planets are very much non-smooth, weird shapes.
I love 'anomalies' in space because they trigger my scifi, space opera instincts. This one is more about planets being geologically messy, but it's still fascinating.
Also,
> On the surface, Mars is a geologically asymmetrical planet: Its southern hemisphere contains towering mountains and deep craters, whereas the northern hemisphere is composed of low flat lands.
Earth is quite asymmetrical too: there is more land above sea level in the northern than southern hemisphere, and viewing from space shows the Pacific Ocean covers an enormous, and disproportionate, area. Choosing sea level is arbitrary, since there are mountains and crevasses underwater... but it shows that planets are very much non-smooth, weird shapes.