September 8, 2008
A Bigger, Older Clavius?
image by [mailto: Yuri Goryachko, Mikhail Abgarian, Konstantin Morozov], Minsk, Belarus
While working on a large new mosaic, Yuri noticed a suspicious feature to the east of Clavius. Do you see it?
If not, scroll to the bottom of the page to see the image with outlines (thanks to Jim Mosher and LTVT) for some named craters and a red oval for the possible ancient crater. Yuri estimates a diameter of 275 km, and I think most people can see the putative hilly rim on the west, and a smooth interior. But it is a larger leap of faith to recognize a rim on the east near Pentland. Yuri asks, Is it really an old crater or a game of light and shadow? That is a good question. Of course, there were vast numbers of craters formed so far in the Moon's past that more recent events have buried or destroyed them. What is fun is trying to decide if particular topography really is the remanent of an ancient crater or merely an illusion. How would you, dear readers, try to answer that question for this candidate older sister to Clavius?
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
19 August, 2008 22:52UT. Maksutov-Cassegrain Santel D=230mm F=3000mm, Astronomik Planet IR Pro (IR-pass 807nm+), Unibrain Fire-i 702 CCD b/w camera, (IEEE-1394, 1388x1040, 10fps, 12bit). Processing in Registax & Maxim DL. Mosaic of 22 images.
Related Links
Rükl plates 72 & 73
Miracle Minsk Imagers website
Yesterday's LPOD: Little Improvements
Tomorrow's LPOD: Fractured, but Unmoved?
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