Images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed a large new impact crater on the surface of our neighboring red planet.

Given the thinner atmosphere, Mars is more vulnerable than Earth to being hit by asteroids, and there are over 200 asteroids impacts on Mars annually.

Images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed a large new impact crater on the surface of our neighboring red planet.

"The spot was not there on March 27, 2012 but did shows up the next day." [NASA]

Experts say that it is the largest fresh impact crater that has been observed on any planet using before and after images for comparison.

Images taken later by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment show that there are two main impacts, with the largest crater measuring in at about 159 feet across and around 143 feet deep.

It's estimated that the object responsible for the impact was probably between 10 to 18 feet long.

The two larger craters are surrounded by smaller holes that were probably caused by broken pieces of the asteroid, or displaced surface material from the impact.

Other evidence from the 5-mile radius around the crater suggests that the impact was so great that it also caused landslides.