July 14, 2009

Soft Ball

image by Damian Peach

Along the western edge of Deslandres is this cluster of older craters. The most conspicuous is Ball, which has a remarkable smooth but terraced rim. In fact, it is amazing that the terraces are still visible. And I am surprised that the floor - at least on the east - is well defined. I expected piles of debris from the smoothed walls to litter the floor. In an extreme case of terrace smoothing - Alpetragius - there are just subtle hints of the terraces that must have once existed, and the floor is gone, having been filled with material that slide downslope. Capella is another terraced removed crater whose debris fills the floor, Is Ball a transitional stage to Capella and Alpetragius? Or is its weird interior unrelated to the other two quite odd, but somewhat similar craters?

Chuck Wood

Technical Details
C14 with SKYnyx 2.0M. May 27th, 2007, Barbados, W.I.

Related Links
Rükl plate 64
Damian's new page of lunar crater images

Yesterday's LPOD: Too Much Resolution?

Tomorrow's LPOD: A Hahnsome View

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