August 6, 2024
Unrolled
Originally published April 20, 2014
image by Maximilian Teodorescu, Dumitrana (Ilfov), Romania
The problem with observing and imaging the limb is that craters and mountains spanning tens of degrees of longitude are squeezed into a sliver of scrunched topography. Max has used the magic of Photoshop to unroll the limb near Grimaldi, restoring the roundness of craters normally seen as ovals. Grimaldi, with Riccioli on its northwest shoulder, has a central low spot of lava (Mare Grimaldi?) surrounded by a broken mountainous ring. This is not a crater rim, but the inner ring of an impact basin; part of the outer ring curves along the bottom right of the image. Ejecta from the Orientale Basin crosses over the outer ring of Grimaldi, but is buried by the central lavas. This shows that the Grimaldi Basin formed before Orientale, and that the Grimaldi lava erupted after the bigger basin.The same sequence occurred at Riccioli. Rilles and crater chains radiate from Orientale, including a rille in Hevelius.
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
April 13, 2014. C11@F/20, ASI120MM, IR-pass filter. Seeing 3-4/10. Processed using the 3D Rendering filter in Photoshop CS2 to correct a bit for the perspective and show the craters as they would be seen from an observer in lunar orbit just above them. When I got to the end result, I was surprised and was thinking that if I would see for the first time this image, I wouldn't figure it out which craters are presented.
Related Links
21st Century Atlas charts 26 & 27.
Yesterday's LPOD: A Snapshot Tour
Tomorrow's LPOD: Agricola Straits
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