| Piú votate - The Lunar Surface in HR |
APOLLO 15 AS 15-0274.jpgAS 15-0274 - Euler Crater56 visiteIn this oblique view of Euler, some details are shown that are not visible in other pictures. Note, for example, the ledges (L) of bedrock cropping out along the South Wall and the low terraces (T) at the points of contact between the slump masses and the floor. They may be aprons of debris or "bathtub rings" of lava. This oblique viewing angle also enhances the polygonal outline of Euler's rim crest and the size and ruggedness of the huge masses that have slumped from the walls.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 17 AS 17-3107.jpgAS 17-3107/3105/3103 - Euler Crater (HR)54 visiteParts of 3 frames from the Apollo 17 PanCam were mosaicked to form this HR view of the crater Euler, in South-Western Mare Imbrium (an exceptionally fine example of a young mediumsized crater). 27-Km in diameter, Euler has most of the features that typify young craters in this size range. Its sharp rim shows little evidence of rounding. A solid blanket of ejecta is visible for approximately 1/2 crater diameter outside the rim and the radial pattern of secondary craters, crater clusters, ridges and grooves is visible outward to a full crater diameter.
Terraces formed by slumping of the steep crater walls, probably contemporaneously with the formation of the crater, are clearly evident. The steepness of the walls and the fact that the crater floor is below the level of the surrounding mare surface indicate that relatively little erosion and infilling have occurred. Other features typical of medium-sized craters are the central peak and the level floor surrounding the central peak. The pattern of ejecta around Euler is notably asymmetric because the area was later flooded by mare lavas that inundated parts of the ejecta blanket and other ejecta features.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 17 AS 17-2321.jpgAS 17-2321 - Crater Chain56 visiteThis crater chain in Southern Mare Serenitatis is clearly of internal origin because it is lined up parallel to several fault valleys or grabens.
The craters in the chain do not appear to have any rims; consequently, they may have formed by collapse and not by the explosive ejection of volcanic material.
The large crater in the right side of this scene, however, has a rim and so cannot be the result of collapse alone.
The finely lineated texture across the left side of the photograph is caused by ejecta from the crater Dawes to the south.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 17 AS 17-149-22838.jpgAS 17-49-22838 - Crater Chain (Far-Side)55 visiteThis oblique view taken with the Hasselblad camera shows a crater chain on the Far-Side, about 500 Km North of Tsiolkovsky. For an idea of the scale, the large crater near the upper left corner is about 26 Km wide. The origin of this chain is controversial. To some geologists, the irregular shape of many of the craters suggests that the chain was formed by the impact of a stream of ejecta from a large primary crater. The presence of herringbone ridges would have strengthened this interpretation, but none are visible; perhaps the high Sun angle and the oblique viewing angle of this scene have obscured them. To others the simple geometry of the chain suggests a volcanic origin. However, there is an apparent lack of faulting to control the alinement of the craters and an apparent absence of a blanket of volcanic ejecta.
The origin of this chain may not be decipherable until, and unless, additional photography becomes available.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 15 AS 15-9287.jpgAS 15-9287 - A "Middle-aged" Crater56 visiteRemarkable detail is shown in this enlargement of a small part of a panoramic camera frame. In most respects, the crater itself is typical of a great many craters its size-about 1,2 Km. Because it does not have rays, it is believed to be older than most other Lunar craters. Its rounded rim crest and slightly raised rim (extending outward to the arrow, on the West side) also point to its greater age. On the other hand, it is young enough that some of the original dunelike texture of the ejecta blanket is preserved (especially to the West), a great many large blocks of ejecta are still visible, and the original depth of the crater has not been greatly lessened by infalling debris. The largest blocks, which are about 30 mt in size, occur near the rim. The terrace (T) extending partly around the wall about 100 mt below the surface probably marks the top of a resistant rock layer. However, if there were other signs of bedrock stratification within this crater, they have been obscured by the movement of debris down the walls. The very smooth floor is the only unusual feature of this crater. It may consist of a solidified pool of rock melted by heat generated from the impact.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 15 AS 15-0018.jpgAS 15-0018 - On the rim of Gibbs Crater55 visiteImpact craters with asymmetric ray patterns and profiles can be caused by conditions other than the angle of trajectory. This 5-Km crater was formed when a meteoroid impacted on the North-East rim crest of Gibbs, a very much larger and older crater near the Moon's East limb. In this restricted view, Gibbs' rim is the dark area in the North half of the picture, and its wall is the light area in the south half. The rim crest extends from arrow to arrow. Discrete rays of both light and dark ejecta are well developed around the North half of the small crater where they were deposited on a relatively level surface. They are poorly developed around the South side of the small crater, probably having been partly destroyed by mixing as the ejected materials cascaded down the much steeper wall of the Crater Gibbs. Subsequent erosion has further destroyed the original pattern. The configuration of the small crater's rim has also been affected by topography.
It is sharply defined along the North side but is barely discernible along the south side where large volumes of material have slumped down the wall of the older crater.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 17 AS 17-2744.jpgAS 17-2744 - Crater's "Rays"55 visiteThis is an oblique view of another crater that probably was formed by a meteoroid following a relatively low-angle trajectory. This crater, 4 Km in diameter, is located in the highlands East of Mare Serenitatis. Compared to the crater described in AS 15-9524, this one is less elliptical and its bilobate ray pattern is much less pronounced. The differences may be attributed to a higher trajectory angle of the impacting body that formed this crater as it struck the surface.
H. J. Moore (1976), in his study of craters formed by impacting missiles at White Sands Missile Range, recognized a characteristic asymmetric profile along the axis of trajectory for craters formed in this manner.
The wall beneath the missile trajectory is typically less steep than the opposite or down-trajectory wall, and its rim crest is lower and more rounded. These observations, when applied to the lunar crater in this photograph, indicate that the impacting body was traveling toward the East when it struck the Moon.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 16-0692.jpgAS 16-0692 - Teophilus Crater54 visiteTheophilus is a relatively young crater similar in size but slightly older than Copernicus. It lies on the eastern edge of the Kant Plateau, an elevated area in the Central Highlands along the northwestern margin of Mare Nectaris. Part of Nectaris is visible as the smooth, dark area near the horizon at the left edge. Like Copernicus and Aristarchus, Theophilus has ruggedly terraced walls and a complex central peak protruding through a level floor. Smooth-surfaced material is present in "pools" at various levels on the terraces, on parts of the crater floor, and on the ejecta that blanket the near (North) side of the crater.
As one alternative, the pools may have been emplaced as fluid lava.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 15 AS 15-2510.jpgAS 15-2510 - Humboldt Crater57 visiteThe crater Humboldt, on the east limb of the Moon, as seen from Earth, is 200 km across, a little larger than Tsiolkovsky. This view by the Apollo 15 mapping camera looks southward across Humboldt's ejecta blanket and into the crater. Irregular secondary craters partly covered by the ejecta are in the foreground and a long chain of secondaries extends from Humboldt's rim to the foreground. Humboldt is one of the largest craters known to have a prominent central peak. If the crater is like terrestrial impact structures, the peak may expose rock uplifted about 10% of the crater's width, on the order of 20 Km from beneath the crater floor. This would be an exciting find for future Astronauts. A spider web of cracks on the crater floor suggested to R. B. Baldwin (1968) that the floor was bowed up in the middle. Later, dark mare lavas flooded low areas in the outer part of the floor and covered the cracks. A peculiar "bull's eye" double crater on the crater floor has several counterparts elsewhere on the Moon. The origin of these double craters is a continuing puzzle.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 15 AS 15-1030.jpgAS 15-1030 - Tsiolkovsky61 visiteThis vertical view shows the central part of Tsiolkovsky in more detail. From the nature of the boundary between the dark mare lavas and the lighter materials at the base of the walls and in the central peak, we know that the lavas must have lapped upon and embayed the lighter materials. The relatively level areas of lighter material in the southwest and northwest parts of the floor have a distinctly different texture than the coarse blocky materials of slumped wall that surround the floor elsewhere. Finely cracked, furrowed, and hummocky, they closely resemble parts of the floor of the crater King. They probably consist of impact melt that solidified to form the original floor of Tsiolkovsky before it was flooded by mare lavas.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 14 AS 14-72-9975.jpgAS 14-72-9975 - The "Bright One" (detail mgnf)56 visiteWhen photographed with the 500-mm lens, the abundance of blocks (bright spots with shadows extending to the right) attests to the freshness of the materials on the floor of the "Bright One". Material that has flowed and in some instances formed smooth-surfaced "pools" is evident in much of the area. Arrows mark the edge of a major flow distinguished by its surface texture, color (in the original negative), location in a topographic low, and clearly defined border. Note that the abundance of boulders in the flow is much less than in nearby areas, presumably because the flow has buried most of the boulders in its path. Scientists generally agree that material has flowed here, and on the floors and flanks of many other craters, but the nature of the material that has flowed is a matter of debate.
(2 voti)
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APOLLO 14 AS 14-70-9671.jpgAS 14-70-9671 - The "Bright One"56 visiteThis crater on the Lunar Far-Side is similar in age and size to the near- side crater Euler. It is located midway between the craters Becvar and Langemak. About 36 Km in diameter, it was informally called the "Bright One" by the Apollo 14 Astronauts because of its bright ejecta and ray pattern. The bright halo that surrounds the crater is about 150 Km in diameter. Its brightness is not evident in this view because the picture was taken when the Sun angle was low. The radial pattern of dunelike ejecta around the crater is most apparent where the Sun's rays are perpendicular to the direction of ejecta flow, as in the lower part of the picture. The hummocky or bumpy floor of the crater is caused largely by material that has slumped from the walls. Stuart A. Roosa, the Apollo 14 CMP, used a handheld camera with an 80-mm lens for this photograph. Later, using a 500-mm lens, he photographed in much more detail that part of the floor of the crater outlined in this photograph and shown in AS 14-9975.
(2 voti)
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