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Mare Imbrium, Steve Lantz

Mare Imbrium

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging
Mare Imbrium, Steve Lantz

Mare Imbrium

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Acquisition details

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Description

This is a view of Mare Imbrium, the second largest mare on the moon. Prior to the lava flows that created the relatively smooth surface, a large impact had occurred in which the moon was struck about 4 billion years ago by a protoplanetary-sized body with a diameter on the order of 250 km. The original crater may have been 100 km deep, but immediate rebound in the crust reduced the depth greatly; the depth of the lava in the impact basin is around 5 km deep. By comparison, the impact event on earth 65 million years ago that may have led to the extinction of many of the dinosaurs was likely caused by an asteroid or comet with a diameter of between 11 and 80 km. Had a body the size of the protoplanet struck the earth instead of the 11 – 80 km asteroid or comet, the devastation to life would have been much greater. Kinetic energy varies linearly with mass. But mass varies with the cube of the diameter; assuming similar material and speed and taking the radius of the 11 – 80 km body to be 35m km, the mass and thus the kinetic energy of the protoplanet would be (250/35)^3 = 364 times greater!

Approximately 4000 frames were recorded and sixty were stacked for the final image. A red and yellow wide-band filter stack was employed. The frame rate was 63 fps.

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Mare Imbrium, Steve Lantz
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