April 8, 2010

Textured Ejecta

image by Jocelyn Sérot, France

What a land of contrasts. Smooth mare lavas from circular-edged Sinus Aestuum at upper left embay and truncate the highly textured hilly terrain left of the image center. The hilly stuff is Imbrium ejecta laid down hundreds of millions of years before these lavas erupted onto the low spots. At bottom right are Pallas and Murchison, which formed before Imbrium as evidenced by the erosion of their rims and flow of rough pasty ejecta onto Pallas' floor. The Bode III rille meanders northward just above its namesake crater (the biggest one, nearly full of shadows), and Bode I (both numbers from the System of Lunar Craters chart D4) is near top center of the image; I wonder if they were once connected as a single rille? This is a wondrously smooth-toned image that invites further exploration.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
2010-03-22, 18h32 UT. Mewlon 210 @ F/D=24, DMK 31, Avistack+Registax (300/2500 im. stacked)

Related Links
Rükl plate 33

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Yesterday's LPOD: More Highland Plutons

Tomorrow's LPOD: The Basis for a New Atlas

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