Pitatus and the Alpine Valley 27th Jan 2007

Pitatus is an ancient lunar impact crater located at the southern edge of Mare Nubium. Joined to the northwest rim is Hesiodus crater, and the two are joined by a narrow cleft. To the south lie the attached Wurzelbauer and Gauricus craters.
The complex wall of Pitatus is heavily worn, and has been encroached by lava flows. The rim is lowest to the north, where the lava almost joins the Mare Imbrium. Near the middle is a low central peak that is offset to the northwest of center. This peak only rises to a height of 0.5 km.
Pitatus is a floor-fractured crater, meaning it was flooded from the interior by magma intrusion through cracks and openings. (See also the Gassendi and Posidonius craters for similar features.) The flooded crater floor contains low hills in the east and a system of slender clefts named the Rimae Pitatus. The larger and more spectacular of these rilles follow the edges of the inner walls, especially in the northern and eastern halves. The floor also contains the faint traces of deposited ray markings.
Just to the north of Pitatus in the neighboring maria is the half-buried rim of a lesser crater, covered in the past when Mare Nubium was formed.

Vallis Alpes (latin for"Alpine Valley") is a spectacular lunar valley feature that bisects the Montes Alpes range. It extends 166 km from the Mare Imbrium basin, trending east-northeast to the edge of the Mare Frigoris. The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to a maximum width of about 10 km along the middle stretch. The selenographic coordinates of this feature are 48.5° N 3.2° E.

The valley floor is a flat, lava-flooded surface that is bisected by a slender, cleft-like rille. (This cleft is a challenging target for telescope observation from the Earth.) The sides of the valley rise from the floor to the surrounding highland terrain, a blocky, irregular surface. The southern face of the valley is straighter than the northern side, which is slightly bowed and uneven. The more rugged edges of the valley lie at the narrow west-southwest end that cuts through the mountain range. Most likely this valley is a graben that was subsequently flooded with magma.

This valley was discovered in 1727 by Francesco Bianchini.

The Straight Wall (Rupes Recta) 27th Jan 2007

Rupes Recta is a linear fault on the Moon, in the southeastern part of the Mare Nubium. The name is latin for "Straight Fault", although it is more commonly called the Straight Wall. This is the most well-known escarpment feature on the Moon, and is a popular target for amateur astronomers.
When the sun illuminates the feature at an oblique angle at about day 8 of the lunar orbit, the Rupes Recta casts a wide shadow that gives it the appearance of a steep cliff. The fault has a length of 110 km, a typical width of 2-3 km, and a height of 240-300 m. Thus although it appears to be a vertical cliff in the lunar surface, in actuality the grade of the slope is relatively shallow.

To the west of this escarpment is the Birt crater, which is about 10.5 miles in diameter. Also to the west is the Rima Birt rille. At the southern end is a group of hills often called the "Stag's-Horn Mountains", although this name is not officially recognized by the IAU.

Wikipedia

Oblique view from Apollo 16 mapping camera.

Ptolemaeus big mosaic 27th Jan 2007

Ptolemaeus is an ancient lunar impact crater close to the center of the near side. To the south-southeast Ptolemaeus is joined to the rim of Alphonsus crater by a section of rugged, irregular terrain, and these form a prominent chain with Arzachel to the south. To the southeast is Albategnius crater and to the north is the smaller but well-defined Herschel crater.

The features of Ptolemaeus are highlighted when the sun is at low angles during the first and last quarter. During the full moon the sun is directly overhead and the crater contours become more difficult to discern.

The crater has a low, irregular outer rim that is heavily worn and impacted with multiple smaller craters. The rim has a discernable polygonal shape, although overall it remains circular. The largest of the peaks along the rim, designated Ptolemaeus Gamma (γ), has an altitude of 2.9km and is located along the northwest rim. The crater has no central peak, a lava-flooded floor, and lacks a ray system. Impact sites of this form are often classified as a "walled-plain", due to their resemblance to the maria.

The somewhat dark-hued floor of Ptolemaeus is notable for several "ghost" craters, formed when lava flow covers a pre-existing crater. These leave only a slight rise where the rim existed, and are difficult to detect except at low angles of sunlight. There are also multiple smaller craters across the floor surface, most notably Ammonius crater in the northeastern quadrant.

On either of this crater are a linear, irregular gashes in the lunar surface, forming valley-like features. These features are approximately parallel to each other and radiate from the direction of Mare Imbrium to the north-northwest.

Wikipedia

Here's a great view by Apollo 12, taken on the right of the crater, looking across it to the West.

Posidonius to Littrow

Posidonius is a lunar impact crater that is located on the western edge of Mare Serenitatis, to the south of Lacus Somniorum. The Chacornac crater is attached to the southeast rim, and to the north is Daniell crater.

The rim of Posidonius is shallow and obscured, especially on the western edge, and the interior has been overlaid by a lava flow in the past. The crater ramparts can still be observed to the south and east of the crater rim, and to a lesser degree to the north.

There is a smaller, semi-circular rim of a concentric, flooded crater within the main rim, offset toward the eastern edge. There is no central peak, but the floor is hilly and laced with a rille system named the Rimae Posidonius. The floor is also slightly bulged due to the past lava uplift, which also likely produced the complex of rilles. The northeast rim is interrupted by the smaller crater 'Posidonius B'. Within the crater rim, offset just to the west of center is another smaller crater 'Posidonius A'.

On the Mare Serenitatis surface near Posidonius crater is a notable system of wrinkle-ridges that parallel the nearby shore. These are designated the Dorsa Smirnov. At the peak of these ridges is a small craterlet with a diameter of 2 km. This craterlet is surrounded by a patch of high-albedo material, and is an example of a lunar bright spot. This peak was formerly designated Posidonius Gamma (γ).

The Posidonius Gamma feature was first observed by the lunar cartographer Julius Schmidt in 1857. He noted the similarity to the bright patch surrounding Linné crater.

Wikipedia

Saturn 25th Jan 2007 using IR pass filter.

Saturn re-processed... again & again...

10fps
5fps

More Saturn from 25th Jan 2007

Good seeing tonight in Wiltshire, UK.

Saturn & Moons 25th Jan 2007

Moon from 25th Jan 2007

Fracastorius is the lava-flooded remnant of an ancient lunar impact crater located at the southern edge of Mare Nectaris. To the northwest of this formation lies the Beaumont crater, while to the northeast is Rosse.
The northern wall of this crater is missing, with only mounds appearing in the lunar mare to mark the outline. The lava that formed Mare Nectaris also invaded this crater, so the structure now forms a bay-like extension. The remainder of the rim is heavily worn and covered in lesser impact craters, leaving little of the original rim intact. The maximum elevation of the rim is 2.4 km. The most prominent of these craters is 'Fractastorius D', which overlays a portion of the western rim.
The Fracastorius crater has no central peak, but a long, slender rille runs across the middle of the floor in a generally east-west direction.

Aristoteles is a lunar impact crater that lies near the southern edge of the Mare Frigoris, and to the east of the Montes Alpes mountain range. To the south of Aristoteles lies the slightly smaller crater Eudoxus, and these two form a distinctive pair for a telescope observer. An arc of mountains between these craters bends to the west, before joining the walls. The smaller Mitchell crater is directly attached to the eastern rim of Aristoteles. To the west is the low, flooded Egede crater.
Observers have noted the crater wall of Aristoteles is slightly distorted into a rounded hexagon shape. The inner walls are wide and finely terraced. The outer ramparts display a generally radial structure of hillocks through the extensive blanket of ejecta. The crater floor is uneven, and covered in hilly ripples. Aristoteles does possess central peaks, but they are somewhat offset to the south. wikipedia

3 image mosaic, using 2.5x Powermate and IR pass filter.

Saturn 23rd Jan 2007

Venus 22nd Jan 2007

Moon 22nd Jan 2007

Saturn on the 15th.

An Atlas on the Universe.

Here's an interesting site... to show you the size and distance of things.

Moon mosaic 5th Jan 2007

Moon Halo 5th Jan 2007

As I was packing up tonight, after another night of rubbish seeing, I noticed a large Moon Halo. Now I know why the seeing was bad... all those ice crystals in the air making a nice Moondog :-(

Here's a couple of snaps taken at 13 Sec, F/4.5, with my Canon Powershot A620.

Langrenus 5th Jan 2007

Not very good seeing tonight.

Funny, the peak doesn't look like a twin peak, but the shadows give it away.
BTW. they're about a kilometer high.
I didn't see any TLP

Various from 2nd Jan 2007

Grimaldi.
Bailly.

High Sun angle Tycho 1st Jan 2007

Oh! by the way... Happy New Year to everyone :-)

MRO Image from the HiRISE Operations Center.

Walls of Noctus Labyrinthus: PSP_001404_1720 (slightly enhanced and adjusted by me)


Also, here's a very interesting webcast/lecture given by Steve Squyres on his recent visit to the OU, this guy knows his stuff... his book is good as well :-)

More Moon from 28th Dec 2006

Alpine Valley.
Albategnius & Klein.
Walter.

Tycho & Clavius in shadow 28th Dec 2006

4 image mosaic, reduced to 60%.

Ptolemaeus area 28th Dec 2006

10 image mosaic, using 2.5 x TeleVue. Fair seeing.
Click here for full size image.

More stunning images from MRO

Cerberus Fossae: TRA_000827_1875_IRB

Marte Vallis: TRA_000853_1900

Marte Vallis: TRA_000853_1900

Holden Crater Delta: TRA_000861_1530

Candor Chasma Wallrock: TRA_000862_1710_RED (slightly enhanced by me)

More images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Terra Sirenum Gullied Crater: portion of HiRISE Image TRA_000878_1410 (color has been enhanced)

Alluvial Fans in Mojave Crater: Highlighted portion of HiRISE Image PSP_001415_1875

Channels on Dunes in Russell Crater from HiRISE Image PSP_001440_1255

Boulder tracks: Highlighted Portion of HiRISE Image PSP_001377_1685

Highlighted Portion of HiRISE Image PSP_001377_1685
All images from here.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Narrow Trough in Tartarus Colles.

HiRISE image PSP_001420_2045 shows a narrow trough running down the center of a valley that lies between two hills in the Tartarus Colles region of Mars.

From here.