A Glorious Image

Originally published September 15, 2004

A Glorious Image

Jim Phillips' low sun image of Posidonius is one of the most dramatic lunar images I have every seen, and its publication in the first 10 days of LPOD's history set a high standard. The standard has now been raised! Wes Higgins' new image under a higher sun reveals more of the crater's floor and more features that I have never seen. Compared to the Lunar Orbiter IV view Wes' image has slightly higher resolution and better image quality. I was surprised to see that the very sinuous rille that is prominent on the west (left) side of the floor appears to continue against the north inner rim much further than I thought. An Apollo 15 image shows the rille along the wall but that image doesn't continue as far east as Wes' does. And if you look near the 3 o'clock position (at the east wall) there appears to be a segment of a sinuous rille crossing the moat from the wall to the inner curved ring. I don't know if we can reasonably hope for higher resolution views than this one but it would be nice to see what is really happening along in the moat along the eastern wall. Oh yes, check out the tiny rilles on the tilted central plateau too!