November 20, 2014
Rillorama
image by Richard Bosman, Enschede, Netherland
Here is a panoramic view of nearly the entire Ariadaeus Rille and the Hyginus Rille, too. I have strongly enhanced just a piece of Richard's large mosaic of this central Moon, rilled area. There are many features here that were discovered or at least featured in earlier LPODs. First is the degraded portion of the Ariadaeus Rille at top left, muted by Imbrium ejecta, and truncated by Mare Vaporum lavas. Another now familiar odd rille is the en echelon, stair-stepping rille that heads west-southwest from Hyginus. And the diagonal rille that connects Ariadaeus with the easter arm of the Hyginus rille is easily visible. There are two other delicate features here that are rarely seen in views from Earth. Just before the diagonal rille connects with the Hyginus Rille it crosses a faint, 600 m wide, 35 km long rille. This has probably been on earlier LPODs but I don't remember it. Another, remarkable, feature visible here is roughness on the floor of Hyginus, the largest irregular mare patch or IMP on the Moon. The whole floor of Hyginus is covered with IMP smooth material that has few impact craters and is suspected to be young. The 6 times enlargement of Richard's image (below, left, with LRO NAC images to right) shows that features of the Hyginus IMP are just visible - the largest bump and depression within the IMP are identifiable, as is the 500 m wide impact crater. It makes observing and imaging more intriguing when we actually can see some of the most recently discovered features on the Moon.
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
13/11/2014. C14 + Basler Ace 1300
Related Links
21st Century Atlas chart 12
Richard's Astro Fotografie website
Yesterday's LPOD: Inconstant Rings
Tomorrow's LPOD: The Quadruplet
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