May 30, 2009

Textured Contrasts

image by Yuri Goryachko, Mikhail Abgarian, Konstantin Morozov, Minsk, Belarus

We often see high Sun images of the Orientale Basin, which strongly contrasts the darkness of the mare stripes with the bright anorthositic crust. Here, when the almost new Moon was low in the morning sky the Minsk Miracle Imagers captured it nearly in a profile view that shows a different contrast. There are two areas of smoothness, within the moat between the Cordillera and Rook mountains, and within the inner ring where the small mare lies. Contrasting with this smooth terrain is the rough texture of ejecta that buries nearly everything outside the Cordillera. The thickness of debris seems greatest on the south (left) side, many partially covered craters are visible nearest us, and the northern deposit is interrupted by craters whose floors are covered with smooth ejecta. The Apennines surrounding part of the Imbrium Basin do not seem to bury so many pre-existing craters, suggesting that, unlike Orientale, the Imbrium basin formed on terrain that had already had its highland like craters removed.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
April 23, 2009 04:05UT. Maksutov-Cassegrain Santel D=230mm F=3000mm + Astronomik Planet IR Pro 807nm+ filter + Unibrain Fire-i 702 CCD b/w camera (IEEE-1394, 1388x1040), Processing in Registax 5, Avistack. Deconvolution in Maxim DL. Postprocessing in Photoshop. Seeing 6/10, Trans 5/5.

Related Links
Rükl plate 50

Yesterday's LPOD: 3-D Ball

Tomorrow's LPOD: Cauchy Times Two

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