Top 5 favourite Moon craters
May. 17th, 2018 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athena1. TSIOLKOVSKY A beautiful crater on the Far Side. Pick it out by its distinctive black floor and white central peak. It’s black because at impact, the crater flooded with basaltic lava like the dark maria (“seas”) visible on the near side.
(The far side of the Moon has no seas.)
2. TYCHO
A classic. Huge bright rayed crater; what’s not to like? Contains approximately 50% of all drama on the Moon.
3. ARISTARCHUS
Brightest point on the lunar nearside, a tiny shred of brightness in the vast Ocean of Storms.
4. COPERNICUS
Another classic crater. Nothing particularly remarkable about it. It’s just always reliably there, west of centre, providing a steady mark to steer by.
5. SOUTH POLE- AITKEN BASIN
Imagine the Moon is a slightly rotten orange. Aitken Basin is where the heel of a giant hand gripped it and left a bruise. It’s one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System, about 2500 km across and 13 deep.
Since it’s so huge, it contains many smaller impact craters, some of which are so deep that sunlight never reaches the bottom. Lowest depth is about -6000m.
We can’t see the basin since it’s on the far side, but we can see the mountains surrounding it— the Moon’s highest, about the height of Everest (8000m). They are the furthest southern feature visible from Earth.
In conclusion, the Moon is extremely cool.
(Posted to Facebook 17 May 2018)
(The far side of the Moon has no seas.)
2. TYCHO
A classic. Huge bright rayed crater; what’s not to like? Contains approximately 50% of all drama on the Moon.
3. ARISTARCHUS
Brightest point on the lunar nearside, a tiny shred of brightness in the vast Ocean of Storms.
4. COPERNICUS
Another classic crater. Nothing particularly remarkable about it. It’s just always reliably there, west of centre, providing a steady mark to steer by.
5. SOUTH POLE- AITKEN BASIN
Imagine the Moon is a slightly rotten orange. Aitken Basin is where the heel of a giant hand gripped it and left a bruise. It’s one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System, about 2500 km across and 13 deep.
Since it’s so huge, it contains many smaller impact craters, some of which are so deep that sunlight never reaches the bottom. Lowest depth is about -6000m.
We can’t see the basin since it’s on the far side, but we can see the mountains surrounding it— the Moon’s highest, about the height of Everest (8000m). They are the furthest southern feature visible from Earth.
In conclusion, the Moon is extremely cool.
(Posted to Facebook 17 May 2018)