April 6, 2008

Tired And Tangled

image by Wes Higgins, Oklahoma; north to the upper right

This is a frazzled area, with many older and tired features. Can you name a single crater here? I could only recognize Taylor, the crater at far right with the large central peak. Taylor is northwest of Theophilus, just outside the nearly invisible Werner-Airy Basin. Near the center of the image is the 32 km wide Lindsay crater, named for an Irish astronomer. At the bottom center (near the number 16 in the annotated image below) is where Apollo 16 landed. The area shown in this image has been on the receiving end of a number of near and distant major events. If the Werner-Airy Basin is real, debris landed here from that ancient basin. Ejecta from the nearby Nectaris Basin must have deposited thick layers of ejecta, and then later, Imbrium Basin ejecta deposited more. The smooth plain where Apollo 16 touched down is commonly thought to be ejecta from Imbrium that was so fluid that it settled in low places and made a flat surface. Other material looks like it has flowed in and been trapped by topography (at Andel M). Between Lindsay and Taylor A are patches of knobby terrain that have textures similar to the hilly material just off the image, south of Apollo 16. To the left of the letter "h" near these hills is a straight line of 5-6 tiny rounded hills. Are these also debris from a basin? Finally, notice the ray segment on the plain to the left of Taylor - what is its source, I wonder?

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
Aug 3, 2007, 18" Reflector, Infinity 2-1m camera, MAP processing 99x64, stack of 350 frames

Related Links
Rükl plate 45
Wes' slightly larger and less enhanced original view

Yesterday's LPOD: Five To One

Tomorrow's LPOD: Two New Rilles?

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