June 26, 2009

Mystery Image

No, this isn't the first image from LRO - that hasn't appeared yet. But this is a marvelous low-oblique view of a place where a lot has happened from the range of mountains on the horizon to the ridged mare in the foreground. One of the most remarkable observations is the abrupt termination of the two groups of rilles near the center of the image. It looks like both sets originally extended more toward the front of the image but that the ridged mare material covered them - see the very sharp boundary? We can see that the foreground mare is younger than the surface the rilles cut which has more impact craters and has a rougher texture. The curve of the edge of the mare and paralleling mare ridge suggest that this lava fills a small impact basin. Wonder what it could be?

Chuck Wood

Yesterday's LPOD: The Biggest Moon On Earth

Tomorrow's LPOD: Charcoal Excursion

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