April 4, 2005
Fabulous Furnerius
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Image Credit: Carmelo Zannelli |
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Fabulous Furnerius On June 29, 2004 LPOD presented Fantastic Furnerius, the best image of that crater I had ever seen. Today that title of best ever gets passed to this new image, illustrating rapid improvement, due in part to the continuing stimulation of great images. Furnerius is an easily overlooked crater, especially at low resolution, for it is older and undistinguished. But as this image illustrates the floor of Furnerius has at least two interesting features. A rille crosses the northern portion of the floor (on the left), cutting a slightly rough terrain that could be lobes of ejecta from the formation of he Nectaris basin. On this image it looks like the rille climbs the rim and perhaps extends slightly past a small bright crater. Because of shadows the Lunar Orbiter 4 image of this area can no confirm the continuation of the rille, which could be just a chance alignment of craters. The second feature of interest on the floor of Furnerius is the smooth (and dark at full) mare material. This has clearly seeped up fractures associated with Furnerius, the way that mare lava reached the floors of other craters to the south and east (Mare Australe). The bottom edge of Carmelos image also beautifully reveals the wreath-like terraces, flat floor and central peak of 75 km wide Stevinus. Technical Details: Related Links: Yesterday's LPOD: A Wondrous Image! Tomorrow's LPOD: Moon & Mercury |
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