Craters of the Moon |
Moon | Automatic translation | Updated June 01, 2013 | ||
Called moon, all natural satellite of a planet, but the Moon, with a capital M, means the only natural satellite of Earth. The mean distance between Earth and the Moon is 384,403 km. The diameter of the Moon is 3474 km. The Hidden Side of the Moon is perpetually invisible from the Earth, it is impossible to take photographs of the face without the use of space probes. Intriguingly, the dark side is different from the face, both in terms of its average altitude and its rate of cratering. | U.S. Clementine mission had not seen the full moon but the probe Selene-Kaguya, the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, launched in 2007, sent us photographs of a high accuracy of the order of 10 meters per pixel. This enabled the detection of new craters and thus to refine the measure of the rate of lunar cratering land. The dark side of the moon, we reached the large crater images Leibnitz (245 km diameter) crater Finsen (72 km diameter) crater Davisson (87 km diameter),... Credit: JAXA, NHK Image: Retail seas and craters on the Moon. | |||
Origin of the Moon | ||||
The origin of the Moon is the subject of scientific debate. The analysis of lunar rocks highlights an interesting theory about the origin of the Moon. | Image: merger of the two metal cores, while the mantle materials are ejected but bound by gravity. | Image: accretion of matter ejected followed by formation of the satellite of the Earth, the Moon. | ||
Craters of the Moon | ||||
Image: The circular crater Plato | Image: The crater Arzachel | Image: The crater Copernicus | ||
Image: The lunar terminator is the dividing line between day and night, it reveals the shadows of crater walls Hesiodus. The zoom on the left side of the image increases with the radius of the Sun which illuminates the crater 45 km in diameter, even in darkness. | Image: The crater Archimedes | Image: The large crater Leibnitz of 245 km in diameter, is located on the far side of the moon. In the right corner, below image, Finsen crater 72 km in diameter. Right in the middle of the picture, Davisson crater 87 km in diameter. Credit: JAXA, NHK | ||
Image: The shadows of the spectacular crater Tycho, detailed by the LRO. Diameter: 85 km with a central peak 2 km high Average depth: 4800 meters. | The asteroid that hit the Moon at this point would be about 10 km in diameter. The shock caused a perfectly circular excavation to a depth of 4700 meters. The center of the crater is occupied by small mountains, the central peak, is over 2000 meters. The central peak was raised as a result of the sudden compression of the collision with the asteroid. It measures ten miles at its base. June 10, 2011, LRO has captured the rays of sun caressing the central peak of Tycho. Image: The crater Clavius (right) is the third largest crater visible on the visible side. It is located in the rugged mountains south of the Moon, south of the crater Tycho. Because of its great size, Clavius can be detected with the naked eye. Clavius is one of the oldest formations on the surface of the moon, it was formed during the period Nectaria (-3 920 to -3 850 million years ago). It has a relatively smooth outer wall compared to its size, it is very worn and depth of 3500 meters above the surrounding soil. This crater of 30 000 square kilometers, was hailed other small young impact craters. In the center of Clavius, you will see not even the banks, because of the curvature of the Moon. |