November 9, 2010

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Edgeworld

LPOD-Nov9-10.jpg
image by Maurice Collins, New Zealand

Can you recognize the main features of this slice of a sliver? In Maurice's image of a 2 day old Moon many features are identifiable that are often poorly seen at this thin phase. The two flat spots near center are Mare Smythii (right) and Mare Marginis (left), with Neper in between. This oblique view also shows how these two lava-filled impact basins actually are convex instead of concave, because they are so big that the curvature of the Moon controls their shape. And it is the tight curvature of a small world that makes the walls of even a smaller feature like Neper be invisible for an astronaut standing on the central peak.
Chuck Wood

Technical Details
Nov. 8, 2010, 0709-0731UT. C8 + LPI.

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