January 16, 2017

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Nothing to Fear Here

Originally published March 26, 2007

MoonLacusTimoris022707.jpg
image by Bob Pilz

What can one say about this area other than it is a hodge-podge of features from different timeframes layered on top of each other. In the middle left (north is up in this image) just south of the overlapping threesome of Hainzel is Mee. Mee is stated as being pre-Nectarian and considering it’s ruined condition I can well believe it. It’s hardly identifable as a crater at all. Subsequent it seems would be large masses of ejecta covering the entire area. This ejecta has somewhat of a northwest to southeast trend and presumably is from Mare Humorum which is just to the northwest. Sometime later the typical post-basin creation lava flooding occurred in low areas such as Lacus Timoris and possibly some craters like Capuanus E just north of Lacus Timoris. Then additional later cratering occurred. The Hainzel complex would be an example. We can see that some of this occurred later than the lava flooding that created Lacus Timoris, since the upper (west) portion of Lacus Timoris shows heavier cratering and a change in tonality indicating a thin covering of ejecta presumably from the Hainzel complex of craters. Extending northward from the Hainzel complex is a jumbled rille (or secondary crater chain) which cuts through the ejecta and appears to join up with rilles around Ramsden. This would place it sometime after the lava flooding in this area. Maybe it extended further south at one time but was covered by ejecta from Hainzel. In a previous LPOD it was speculated that some shallow craters in this general area could be secondaries from Mare Orientale which would make them the last major modifiers of this area. All in all it looks like this area didn’t get much rest for more than a billion years.

Bob Pilz

Technical Details:
Feb 28, 2007, ~04:12UT. 200mm f/6 Newtonian reflector + Televue 3x Barlow + DMK 21BF04 B/W camera + ‘Blue’ IR-block filter, .20 arcsec/pixel, 30 fps, 1/44 sec, 1400/9000; Processed in Registax, ImagesPlus, PS CS. Taken from Lat: 35 degrees 36 minutes N, Long: 82 degrees 33 minutes W, Elev:~850m.

Related Links:
Rükl chart 63
Bob’s website

Yesterday's LPOD: Wikimoon

Tomorrow's LPOD: Sunrise on a Familiar Threesome


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