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The Descartes Highlands - landing site of
Apollo 16
The image
shows the region of the Descartes Highlands, landing area of the Apollo 16
mission. The small red dot marks the landing position, directly south of it (in
the picture above) the image shows the bright ray system of the small crater
"south ray".
Southeast lies the Descartes SWIRL, a region with a strong
magnetic field anomaly. Besides Reiner Gamma in the Oceanus Procellarum, this
is the only SWIRL on the nearside of the moon. At the top of the image (south)
is the beautiful symmetrical Abulfeda crater from which the impressive Catena
Abulfed crater chain joins southeast.
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To the west of Abulfeda lie the two strangely shaped
craters Ritchey and Ritchey J, which are certainly results of multiple impact.
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The Caesar crater, the Boscovich region and
Rima Ariadaeus
In the
center of the image is the 90km large crater Julius Caesar. To the west is
Boscovich with a diameter of 46km. The Rimae Boscovich lie on the smooth, dark
crater floor. South of Caesar lies the 220km long and up to 7km wide groove
Rima Ariadaeus, probably a depression.
The whole region is characterized
by lunar volcanism. To the west (right) of Boscovich lies a large region with
pyroclastic ash deposits, the Pyroclastic Mare Vaporum. At the upper edge of
the picture is the crater Hyginus, which is not an impact crater but a volcanic
caldera. South of Caesar lies the large volcanic dome Julius Caesar 1 with a
size of approx. 26km. |
North and west (in the picture below and to the right)
is characterized by the so-called Imbrium Sculpture. The lunar surface is
characterized by structures lying diagonally in the picture. The orientation
points directly to the center of Mare Imbrium and the region is certainly
characterized by the Imbrium Impact. The orientation of these radial structures
can be followed up to the large craters Ptolemy and Alphonsus.
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Northwest wall of Mare Crisium and
Macrobius
North and
west (in the picture below and to the right) is characterized by the so-called
Imbrium Sculpture. Parallel to the rim lies the ridge Dorsum Oppel. At the top
of the scene is the 31km large Lick crater with a volcanically convex crater
floor, grooves and small craters.
Following to the north is the 36km
large Yerkes crater which is almost filled with lava up to the eastern crater
wall. Directly west of it lies a large volcanic bulge with a system of grooves,
Yerkes 1.
Proclus, the crater with the asymmetric ray system at sunrise
and further north lies the 65km large crater Macrobius in Lacus Bonitatis.
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The crater Erathostesnes, Copernicus and
Stadius
The scene shows
the young, nearly 100km large crater Copernicus, east of it the "ghost crater"
Stadius and Erathostenes (58km). On the crater floor of Kopernikus you can
clearly see the different soil conditions. The northwestern part is relatively
smooth, the rest is "hilly". Also the different terraces (landslides) of the
inner crater wall are clearly visible.
Stadius is an ancient crater
that is literally filled up from the Copernikus ejecta material to the crater
rim. The smaller craters that cover Stadius and lie further north are secondary
craters formed by Copernikus impakt. |
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Rimae Triesnecker, Rima Hyginus,
Ukert, Pallas und Murchinson
Stadius is an old crater, which is literally filled up
from the ejecta material to the crater rim. While Triesnecker is a normal
impact crater and the grooves are stress fractures, Hyginus is a volcanic
caldera and the groove is a former lava flow channel.
To the south lies
the large "pyroclastic" Mare Vaporum region, which is covered with volcanic
ash. In the Murchinson crater lie two larger volcanic shield volcanoes
(circular labeled). |
To the north, the Ukert crater, with its clearly
triangular shape, lies in a region clearly marked by the impact of the Mare
Imbrium. The diagonal structures point directly to the centre of Mare Imbrium
and can be traced to the region of the great craters Ptolemy and Alphonsus.
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Copernikus and
Stadius
Stadius is an
old crater, which is literally filled up to the crater rim by the ejecta
material of the Copernikus impact. The smaller craters, which cover Stadius and
lie further north, are secondary craters that were formed by the Copernicus
Impact.
North and south of Copernicus lie two so-called dark halo
craters (DHC). The southern one (in the image above) has a diameter of 4.5km,
the smaller one north of Copernicus has a diameter of just 2km. West of the
larger one is the small double crater Fauth. |
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The Mare
Australe
The image is a
mosaic of 3 and shows the complete Mare Australe under ideal libration
conditions. The picture shows the 80km big crater Oken and the 140km big crater
Lyot. Both show dark crater bottoms.
The Mare Australe is not a
continuous lava surface similar to the Mare Imbrium or the Mare Tranquilitatis,
but consists of a number of several lava surfaces. |
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Maurolycus, Stoeffler and
Heraclitus
A view into
the chaotic highlands of the moon. The two large craters Maurolycus and
Stoeffler characterize the scenery. The impact that created the crater Faraday
occurred after the impact of Maurolycus. The bright areas on the crater floor
of Stöffler are ejecta material from the crater Tycho.
South of
Stöffler lies the elongated crater Heraclitus, which is certainly the
result of a multiple impact. The craters Cuvier, Licetus and Heraclitus D were
formed later than the formation of Heraclitus. |
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Rima Ariadaeus, Godin and
Agrippa
In the center
of the image is the 220km long and up to 7km wide groove Rima Ariadaeus. It is
probably - similar to the alpine valley - a depression and not of volcanic
origin. To the north are the craters Julius Caesar and Boscovich with its
groove system and unusually dark crater floor.
North of the eastern end
of Rima Ariadaeus lies the unusually large shield volcano Ariadaeus 1 with 28 x
14 km. |
In the south are the two large craters Godin (35km)
and Agrippa (46km). The eastern end of Rima Hyginus is located in the middle at
the right edge of the picture. |
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Vallis
Capella
In the center
of the image are the Capella and Isidoris craters of approximately the same
size. Diagonal the crater Capella crosses the Vallis Capella. It is not a
valley, but a very old chain of craters older than Capella. The crater
interrupts the crater chain and Capella must be younger. The central mountain
of Capella has an unusual shape.
Southeast of Capella lies a volcanic
region. The inside of Gaudibert crater is filled with swollen lava and further
south is the volcanic ash region "Pyroclastic" Gaudibert B. |
Northwest of Capella and Isidoris lies the strange
crater Torrichelli, which is the result of a very flat impact . To the east is
a volcanic dome with very steep slopes (circle labeled). |
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Vallis Rheita
The image shows centrally the Vallis Rheita at
sunrise. Like the Vallis Capella, the Vallis Rheita is not a valley but a chain
of impact craters. Probably there are even two different crater chains, because
at crater Young D the direction of the craters changes.
At the top
left of the picture are the western margins of the Mare Australe. |
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