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71-moon_northpole 1.jpgThe Lunar North Pole (1)64 visiteUna bellissima coppia di immagini ad Alta Risoluzione dell'area Nord Polare della Luna, alla ricerca - ancora una volta - dei "Picchi della Luce Eterna" (anche se poi, come già avemmo occasione di dire in passato) si dovrebbe trattare non di picchi (nel senso di porzioni superiori di montagne appuntite), bensì di altopiani.
Comunque sia, queste Regioni della "Luce Eterna" esistono, sappiamo dove sono e, forse, costituiranno davvero un punto di partenza verso la costituzione di un avamposto Lunare permanente.
Staremo a vedere...
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24-Mare Humorum-4.jpgMare Humorum (4)63 visitenessun commento
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32-MareHumorum.jpgMare Humorum63 visiteThis mosaic of three images, taken by the advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows Mare Humorum on the Moon.
AMIE obtained the top frame on 1 January 2006, from a distance of 1087 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution of 98 metres per pixel. The remaining two frames were taken on 13 January 2006, from a distance of about 1069 (centre) and 1050 kilometres (bottom) from the surface, with a ground resolution of 97 and 95 metres per pixel, respectively.
The area shown in the top image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 25.9º West; the centre image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 27.3º West; the bottom image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 28.8º West.
Mare Humorum, or 'Sea of Moisture', is a small circular mare on the lunar nearside, about 825 kilometres across. The mountains surrounding it mark the edge of an old impact basin which has been flooded and filled by mare lavas. These lavas also extend past the basin rim in several places. In the upper right are several such flows which extend northwest into southern Oceanus Procellarum.
Mare Humorum was not sampled by the Apollo program, so its precise age could not been determined yet. However, geologic mapping indicates that its age is in between that of the Imbrium and the Nectaris basins, suggesting an age of about 3.9 thousand million years (with an uncertainty of 500 million years).
Humorum is filled with a thick layer of mare basalt, believed to exceed 3 kilometres in thickness at the centre of the basin. On the north edge of Mare Humorum is the large crater Gassendi, which was considered as a possible landing site for Apollo 17.
Mare Humorum is a scientifically interesting area because it allows the study of the relationships among lunar mare filling, mare basin tectonics, and global thermal evolution to the major mascon maria – regions of the moon's crust which contain a large amount of material denser than average for that area (Solomon, Head, 1980).
Past studies (Budney, Lucey) revealed that craters in the mare Humorum sometimes excavate highland material, allowing to estimate the thickness from below the mare cover. Thanks to this, it was also possible to determine that the ‘multiring’ structure of the Humorum basin has a diameter of 425 kilometres (results based on the US Clementine global topography data).
In general, the chronology of lunar volcanism is based on the analysis of landing site samples from the Apollo and Luna missions, from the study of the relationship between the stratigraphy (layering of deposits) in different regions, and from the analysis of lunar craters – how they degraded over time and how their distribution in number and size varies over the Moon’s surface. From crater statistics, in the year 2000 Hiesinger and colleagues found that in Humorum there was a peak of eruptions at about 3.3-3.5 thousand million years ago.
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Z-110-The_Moon-PlaskettCrater-00.jpgThe Spectacular Crater Plaskett63 visiteCaption ESA:"This image, taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows crater Plaskett on the Moon.
This image was taken by SMART-1 from its polar orbit, at an altitude of 3000 Km over the surface and with a ground resolution of 300 mt per pixel.
Plaskett crater sits at 82,1° North and 174,0° East, with its centre just 240 Km away from the Lunar North Pole.
The crater, about 109 Km across, is named after the Canadian astronomer John Stanley Plaskett (1865–1941)".MareKromium
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37-AMI-Mersenius Crater.jpgMersenius "C"62 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This mosaic of 3 images, taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows the crater Mersenius "C" on the Moon.
AMIE obtained this sequence on 13 January 2006, from distance of 1149, 1172 and 1195 Km from the surface, respectively. The ground resolution ranges from 104 to 108 mt per pixel. All images are located at a Long. of 45,7º West and at Lat. of 21,3º, 19,7º and 18,1º South, respectively.
For separate images go to:
AMI_EAE3_001777_00008_00020.JPG; AMI_EAE3_001777_00009_00020.JPG; AMI_EAE3_001777_00010_00020.JPG.
Crater Mersenius "C" is positioned in the highland area between Mare Humorum and the Oceanus Procellarum. The crater has a diameter of 14 Km and is best visible for ground-based observers 4 days after first quarter Moon".
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52-ST_image_23-08-06_10_42UTC_H.jpg"Satellite Craters"62 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image of the Lunar Surface was taken on 23 August at 12:42 CEST (10:42 UT), by the star tracker (attitude camera) on board ESA’s SMART-1, from a distance of 165 Km above the Moon Surface. SMART-1 was travelling at a speed of 1,93 Km/sec.
The two craters visible on the image are 'satellite' craters to the Neumayer Crater. Satellite craters are identified by the name of their parent crater and an additional letter.
On the star tracker image the crater with the sharp rim is called Neumayer "M" (located at a Latitude of 71,6° South and a Longitude of 78,5° East) and the one with the smooth rim is called Neumayer "N" (at a Latitude of 70,4° South and a Longitude of 78,7° East).
The image is slightly smeared as the spacecraft is moving at high speed and at low altitude. This image was taken as a test, which means the spacecraft pointing was not optimised for taking images with the star tracker".
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Z-109-The_Moon-PlaskettCrater.jpgCrater Plaskett & Companions62 visiteCaption ESA:"Plaskett crater is the bottom crater in this mosaic built with images taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft. Plaskett and its two Companion Craters sit near the Moon’s North Pole.
The shadow lengths can be used to calculate the height of surface features.
Data like this can be turned into virtual simulations of the surface to help engineers design suitable landers. From its rim, the full Earth would graze just above the horizon for only a few days per month. However some areas within the Crater never see the Earth.
Rozhdestvenskiy is a large lunar crater of about 177 Km of diameter at it is centered at 85,2° North and 155,4° West (just above Plaskett).
Its northern rim is just 60 Km from the North Pole".MareKromium
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98-SMART-1-Impact-Graphic-hq.jpgThe "Impact Site" of SMART-1 (detailed)61 visiteCaption ESA originale:"Map of the Lacus Excellentiae Region, showing the nominal SMART-1 impact orbit (central red line: orbit 2890) and possible impact location at perilune on the Lunar Surface.
The two adjecent orbits, 2889 and 2891, and their perilune locations are also indicated.
Note that 1° of Latitude corresponds to 30 km on the Moon, and that one arcsec from Earth subtends 1,8 km on the Moon centre".
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54-st124520_smart-1_moon_H.jpgBright Impact Crater61 visiteCaption ESA originale:"Screen shot showing a remarkable impact crater (bright circle at top right) and the elongated shapes of ejected material extending radially outward.
Animation sequence captured from SMART-1 star tracker on 1 September 2006, 600 Km above the Moon's surface".
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66-smart-1_data1002887_001_H.jpgLunar Horizon61 visitenessun commento
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Z-104-TheMoon-Eclipse030307_AT_ESTEC1.jpgAfter the end of Totality...61 visiteCaption ESA:"This image was taken during the Partial Eclipse Phase of the March, 3rd, 2007 Total Lunar Eclipse, about 10 minutes after the end of totality".MareKromium
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41-Mezentzev Crater.jpgCraters Mezentsev, Niepce and Merril60 visiteThis image was taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on 16 May 2006. The imaged area is centred at a Latitude of 73° North and a Longitude of 124° West, on the Far-Side of the Moon.
Normally, the AMIE camera is pointed straight down at the Lunar Surface, in the Nadir pointing mode. In this image, AMIE was pointed towards the horizon, showing the Lunar Surface in an oblique view.
The largest craters in this image are Mezentsev, Niepce and Merrill. Mezentsev is an eroded crater 89 Km in diameter and centred at 72,1° N, and 128,7° W.
A smaller cup-shaped crater resides inside Mezentsev. Niepce and Merrill both have a diameter of 57 Km and are located at 72,7° N-119,1° W and 75,2° N and 116,3° W, respectively.
Mezentsev Crater is named after Yourij Mezentsev, a Soviet engineer (1929 - 1965) who was one of the first people to design rocket launchers, while Joseph Niepce was the French inventor of photography (1765 - 1833); Paul Merrill was an American astronomer (1887 - 1961).
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