image by K.C. Pau, Hong Kong
From his apartment balcony in the middle of Hong Kong, KC continues to capture images that reveal new things about the Moon. With a much lower illumination angle than his previous Prinz LPOD, this image shows that much of the area among the Harbinger Mountains east of Prinz is subtlely domed. There is a large dome stretching from the hills Prinz Theta (t) to Beta (b), down to Delta (d) and over to the rille, Prinz II. It appears that the domed area extends up to Prinz Gamma (g) and perhaps Alpha (a), and curves northward, being bounded by Prinz II. There is a suggestion of a small domed area just west of Prinz I (the rille crossed by the slot depression). This entire area of uplifting is a miniature version of the nearby Aristarchus Plateau, with the two Prinz rilles being tiny versions of Schröter’s Valley. The domed area appears to be slightly rougher than the nearby maria, suggesting that it is older; and somehow the two rilles seem to have cut down through the dome. Another possible piece of uplifted land is the odd elongated teardrop that stretches from the small crater Aristarchus D toward a hilly region south of Gamma. This also seems to be rough textured. The main dome - shall we call it the Harbinger Megadome (like the similar Gardner Megadome?) - as well as the mountains themselves, appear to be uplifted pieces of the lunar crust, presumably the rising magma that ultimately fed the rilles lifted up the underlying crust and domed the surface.
Technical Details:
22Oct207, 13h30m UT. 10″ Newtonian, 5X barlow, DMK31AF03.AS camera, 233 frames stacked with Registax 4 and processed with PS CS2, Seeing: 5~6/10, Transparency:5/10. Lat.: 22º 15′ N, Long.:114º 10′ E; elevation is 0 meter.
Related Links:
Rükl Plate 19
Prinz in the-Moon Wiki
Note: This is unrelated to today’s LPOD but a wonderful read - Apollo astronauts talking about the realities of their flights to the Moon.
Yesterday's LPOD: Colorful Topo
Tomorrow's LPOD: Better the Second Time Around
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