July 25, 2004

From LPOD
Jump to: navigation, search

Pre-History of the Triesnecker Area



LPOD-2004-07-25.jpeg

LPOD-2004-07-25b.jpeg

Image Credit: Jim Philips


Pre-History of the Triesnecker Area

The Triesnecker area is a magnet for observers - not because of the 26 km wide fresh crater, but for the nexus of mostly linear, thin rilles east and north of the crater. This low sun view (compare with the somewhat higher, sunrise image from LPOD for May 26, 2004) shows considerable relief for the shallow, older(?) rilles east of the main ones. This image also reveals low relief features buried by the smooth plains that are cut by the rilles. West of Triesnecker there appears to be a linear depression or graben about 100 km long - see black lines on mouseover. Large graben are unusual on the Moon, and since this one is not radial to the Imbrium basin (which controls most of the linear structures in this area), other explanations should be considered. Possibly the depression results from two older craters (white circles), each about 30-35 km wide. Whether this feature is a graben or craters, one thing is for sure - it is submerged by the smooth plains. What are these plains? If you observe this area near full Moon, you'll see that some parts of the plains are dark, like mare lavas, and other places are light-hued. Some of the lightness is from the strange Triesnecker rays, but other parts may be non-mare materials - the so-called Cayley Plains. More on this later.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details:
July 9, 2004 - a night of fantastic seeing (9/10); TMB 8" F/9 apo with Toucam Pro, 3X Barlow and Registax.

Related Links:
Consolidated Lunar Atlas High Sun View
Lunar Orbiter IV View

Yesterday's LPOD: An Excess of Craters

Tomorrow's LPOD: Two Satellites



Author & Editor:
Charles A. Wood

 


COMMENTS?

Register, Log in, and join in the comments.