image by Paolo R. Lazzarotti
I’m afraid Charles Wood will be soon telling something to us…
The floor of the large crater W. Bond (left foreground) is littered with blocks, like gravel tossed on a surface. The thrower was the impact that excavated the giant Imbrium impact basin, and the gravel was kilometer-size miniature mountains of debris. Away from the terminator, the floor of Meton looks smoother; it may not be a lighting effect. Being further from Imbrium, Meton probably received smaller particles. William Bond was filled to an unknown depth, possibly about 2 km, and cut by a rille. Lunar Orbiter IV images show the rille to be quite sharp-edged and thus not an older rille incompletely covered by debris. It is an uncommon example of a linear rille cutting basin ejecta. The reasons for its existence and orientation are unknown. The relatively smooth and shallow floors of craters near the northern pole make it far less spectacular than the craggy southern polar area. The number of large craters is about the same, but the northern craters were permanently shallowed by Imbrium basin ejecta and the craters near the South Pole are far from basin ejecta. Finally, I love the dramatic juxtaposition of the rough, sandpaper like texture of W. Bond and the ultra-smooth surface of Mare Frigoris. Another awesome image, Paolo!
Chuck Wood
Technical Details:
7 January 2006, at 18:14 UT, 315 mm Dall-Kirkham Spada telescope (f/25), Lumenera Infinity 2-1M camera, Edmund Optics G filter IR blocked, 140 frames stack out of 2000.
Related Links:
Rükl chart 4
Paolo’s website
Lunar Orbiter IV view
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