June 11, 2012
Edgeland
<img src="" alt="Jun11-12.jpg" title="Jun11-12.jpg" />
image by Dmitry Makolkin, Moscow, Russia
I like lunar limbs, and enjoy trying to identify craters seen increasingly in profile. This northern limb is from a huge mosaic
compiled by Dmitry gives another chance to explore. I have labeled a few features, and Howard Eskildsen produced an earlier
view with more craters labeled. I like seeing Nansen, a Copernicus-size crater that rarely appears in LPODs. From views like
this Nansen looks to be a relatively fresh complex crater with central peaks, but looking at an overhead perspective I see that
it is older and its floor partly covered with material that may have been pushed in by the formation of Houssay on its rim. Further
along the limb to the east is Hayn, a crater that really is a relatively fresh complex crater. It is difficult to see it under high Sun
because it is somewhat near the pole but it may have rays, and might be the source for the mysterious one that cuts across the
Mare of the Humboldtianum Basin. A crater that definitely has rays is Thales, which has a zone of avoidance toward the northwest,
demonstrating that it formed from an oblique impact. One thing I never noticed before is that the zone of avoidance is darker than
the ray-covered terrain on either side. The darker triangular area is reminiscent of Palus Somni, a feature named solely because
no ray crosses it.
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
See original mosaic.
Related Links
Rükl plate 5
Dimitry's Moon gallery
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