Karoo (crater) Karoo (crater) Karoo is an impact crater on the Asteroid 253 Mathilde, named for the Great Karoo Basin, a coal basin in South Africa. It is 33.4 kilometers in diameter and was the most prominent crater seen during NEAR Shoemaker's Flyby of the Asteroid. The critical crater diameter is the scale at which cratering “goes global” and results in a solitary distinct crater. All smaller craters—however large D might be—are local events. Mathilde is thus a particularly interesting case, since it is the largest asteroid imaged at sufficient resolution to show that its topography is clearly exogenic, governed by impacts.
Tirari Desert and the Sturt Stony Desert runs aligned with the Birdsville track to the north east. The desert experiences harsh conditions with high temperatures and very low rainfall (mean annual rainfall is below ). The main vehicular access to the desert is via the unpaved Birdsville Track which runs northwards from Marree to Birdsville. The Mungerannie Hotel is the only location between the two towns that provides services. The Tirari Desert region has a number of large cattle stations which are stopping points on the Channel Country aviation mail run. Dulkaninna Station has been run by the same family for 110