January 31, 2013
Pastel Evidence
north to left image by Дмитрий Кананович (Dzmitry Kananovich), Tallinn, Estonia
 (Add your own "d" to "Humboldt".) |
Most enhanced color images of the Moon are of the maria because of the extreme color contrasts due to the compositional differences of the lavas. But Dzmitry's colorful image demonstrates that there are intriguing color differences in the highlands too. The higlands themselves here have two major tones - a pink around Humboldt and north (left) of Petavius, and elsewhere a pale teal with a greenish tint. The contrasting hue is blue-white, representing pulverized highlands distributed as rays. Toward the limb, the interiors of small fresh craters and Humboldt's central peaks are beacons of brightness. At the front of the image are the brilliant recently the crater is elongated and possibly was formed by a low angle impact, but the elongation is perpendicular to the ray direction. Finally, the oblique impact crater Petavius B is now well known, but I see a surprise. Just south of B is a slightly bright spotch that appears as a dull yellow. A similar tinge occurs along the edge of the rays that define the v-shaped zone of exclusion. On the LRO QuickMap it does not stand out as unusual. I never noticed this before and don't know what it means. Chuck Wood |
Yesterday's LPOD: Intersections
Tomorrow's LPOD: Winning Moon
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