image by Gerardo Sbarufatti
Is this a place never before featured in LPOD? It seems so - amazing that there are any nearside features of interest that haven’t appeared in the 600 plus previous LPODs! Palus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams) is an odd bit of mare material that is not inside an impact basin. But then this whole corner of the Moon is full of non-conforming mare patches such as Lacus Temporis, Lacus Mortis, miniscule Lacus Spei and of course, the weirdly long Mare Frigoris. It seems that most - all? - basins are at least partially surrounded by low swampy zones with maria. Perhaps Lacus Somniorum is in a trough related to Serenitatis. The narrow Daniell Rille (named for the elongate 30 x 23 km wide crater at bottom right) and the rille segments adjacent to the highland at the left may be part of a concentric pattern of rilles surrounding Serenitatis that includes the Littrow Rilles. If it is a concentric rille it formed as the lavas in Serenitatis subsided, bending the basin edges. This rille is like the Hyginus Rille in that it contains a series of crater pits. You can barely see them, just as you can just see the rille on the floor of Daniell. Good shot, Gerardo!
Technical Details:
Feb 4, 2006, 18:57 UT. 8″ SCT Celestron + 2X Barlow + KamPro02 camera + 5,500 red filter; 400 stacked images.
Related Links:
Rükl sheets 14
Lunar Orbiter IV view
Yesterday's LPOD: From the Earth to the Moon
Tomorrow's LPOD: Unknown Rille?
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