October 16, 2008
A Bump in the Day
image by Pete Lawrence
South of Eichstadt, just outside the Cordillera Mountain rim of the Orientale Basin, is a massive bump on the terrain that I've never noticed before. The 30 km wide feature has a rugged surface similar to its surroundings, both being covered by a thick layer of Orientale ejecta. What is the origin of this rounded hill? At first I thought it might be part of the rim of the Orientale Basin but it is well outside the Cordillera rim. It is in an area where pre-existing craters have been nearly detroyed beyond recognition, but it seems to be on the rim of a possible older, larger crater hinted at by a curved ridge to the east. But the bump is much bigger than a reasonable rim segment. A Lunar Orbiter IV image shows both the swirly texture of the ejecta cover and the possible destroyed crater to the right, but does not provide an explanation for the bump...
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
Oct 13, 2008, 22h 23m UT. Celestron C-14 with a 2.5x Powermate and a Lumenera SKYnyx 2-0M camera.
This is just a small piece of a much longer limb mosaic
Related Links
Rükl plate 50
Pete's website
Yesterday's LPOD: Hemispherical Peak
Tomorrow's LPOD: Telescope Eclipses Moon
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