April 29, 2012
Southern Bumps
Apollo 15 AS15--88-12007 image from KeithLaney.net
Treasures still await us in old images. While looking at photos of Mare Australe I noticed some possible volcanic domes that I don't remember seeing before. In the bottom half of this Apollo 15 image is a mare-filled area between craters east of Moulton (M) and south of Kugler (K), just farside of the southeast limb. The largest dome (#1) is about 15 km wide, flat-topped, and seems to have a pit on its summit. Nearby is #2, about 7 km wide and less certain. Other low swells are nearby. To the west on the floor of Chamberlin (unlabelled but above Moulton, M) is another low featue (#3) that appears to be a dome. A hint of another (4) occurs of the flat floor of an old crater between Jeans (J) and Petrov (P). The LRO WAC Quick Map has higher Sun but significantly greater resolution. It confirms the existence of these features but shows them more as somewhat irregular swells than as classic domes. The pit on #1, interpreted from the Apollo image, is actually two impact craters. Taking full advantage of older image data and the LRO WAC will allow a new examination of Australe, a basin that was last studied decades ago.
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