image by Mike Wirths
Does the Moon have corners? If so, this is a forgotten one that is not often imaged. Everything here is within the Nectaris impact basin. The edge of the mare marks the location of the inner, 400-km wide basin ring (which is also the edge of the mascon - gravity anomaly), and the hilly and cratered area beyond is within the main basin rim. On the western side of Nectaris the main rim is dramatically marked by the Altai Scarp, but on the east and north sides, its location is determined by a few isolated peaks that lie near the circle defined by continuing the Altai arc. That 860 km wide circle passes through the upper right corner of this image. The Gutenberg Rilles (upper right) don’t seem associated with the Nectaris basin – they are radial to Imbrium and also to the Gargantuan or Procellarum basins. One other Imbrium artifact here is the cluster of small shadowed craters that are interpreted as Imbrium secondaries. Finally, there is an alignment – part rille or all crater chain? – that cuts through Capella and extends south to Gaudibert. I was surprised to learn when looking at Rükl’s Atlas of the Moon that this feature has a name: Capella Valley
Technical Details:
March 4, 2006. 18″ Starmaster + camera Lumenera Infinity 2-2 + 2.5X powermate barlow + red filter; stack of about 120 images.
Related Links:
Rükl charts 47 & 48
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