image by Richard Bosman, Enschede, Netherlands
The Cauchy area is one of the most fascinating places on the Moon. It includes one of the few major lunar faults, a nearby rille and a high concentration of domes. Richard comments that he can see 13 domes - how many do you count on his wonderful image? Some of the domes are classic hemispheric caps with a central pit, and a few - most obviously Cauchy Omega at the far right - have flattened summits, and Cauchy Tau (left of Omega) has an irregular surface with a small peak. I am intrigued by something I don’t remember seeing before. The rille at the base of the Cauchy Scarp is known - I published a description of it in 1966 - but I was unaware that at its eastern end the rille climbed up the scarp and continued a short distance across the mare. But after seeing it on Richard’s image a check shows that it is also barely visible on the oblique Apollo 8 view. And after a gap, the western end of the rille continues a few kilometers further. As I look at the Apollo and especially Richard’s image I begin to question if the feature I call a rille actually is one, of if it is a smaller fault at the base of the big scarp. Actually, looking closely at the US Geological Survey’s image of the scarp makes it look like the feature is a narrow flat-topped ridge. This is confusing - perhaps someday the SMART-1 image of this area will be released, answering the question.
Technical Details:
280 mm SCT + 3X barlow + ATK-2HS camera + Astron R filter.
Related Links:
Rükl plates ? (don’t have the book with me)
Richard’s website
Paolo’s image of the area
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