January 14, 2010
A Corner of Oddities
south up image by Mike White, Levin, New Zealand
Is there any dull corner of the Moon? There are always places with craters that look pretty much like others, but somewhere there are usually oddities and other features of interest. This corner, a little south and limbward of the Nectaris Basin has lots of oddities. Nearly all have been featured before in LPOD, but it is uncommon to see them all in one excellent image. Here is an annotated index to them. (1) Janssen anchors this part of the Moon, earning its odditihood by being a highland crater with a big rille slicing through it. (2) The Rheita Valley is a basin secondary crater chain, nearly radial to its parent, the Nectaris Basin. (3) What do you call a large lava flooded area without surrounding rim - the Australe Basin. (4) Further from the terminator and lost somewhat in the brightness is the second major Nectaris crater chain - the Snellius Valley. (5) Furnerius is an old crater, pretty far from a maria but a small patch of lava is on its floor, and it is cut by a rille. (6) The Keyhole is an oddity in any collection. Is it a string of basin secondaries - no, because its not radial to any basin. Is it a miniature Schiller, an extreme oblique impact? Or is it still a mystery? (7) The Neander Fault is another strange feature occurring in an unexpected small puddle of lava. It is somewhat radial to Nectaris... (8) I hadn't noticed this linear before - a line of shadows and crater edges, probably a chance alignment, but is anything on the Moon every a result of chance?
Chuck Wood
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