Contains:  Solar system body or event
Ptolemaeus, MAILLARD

Ptolemaeus

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging
Ptolemaeus, MAILLARD

Ptolemaeus

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

This is a panorama obtained from two panels.

Very interesting central lunar region, in the last quarter, which contains vast walled plains.

At the bottom left of the image, Ptolemaeus is a large closed plain with a polygonal enclosure, very eroded, with a diameter of 153 km and a depth of 2400 m. Its soil is riddled with small craters and alveoli that are visible here thanks to the vicinity of the terminator.

On the right of Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus is a circus (118 km/2730 m) with a central mountain and a system of grooves. It was in this arena that the Ranger 9 spacecraft crashed on March 24, 1965, after taking images during its descent.

The next crater is Arzachel (97 km/3600 m), with terraced slopes and whose arena is traversed by a groove about 50 km long.

At the top left, immersed in darkness, the Albategnius circus (136 km) strangely reveals only the summits of central mountains lit by the sun.

At the bottom right of the image is the famous fault Rupes Recta 110 km long and about 2.5 km wide, which appears as a thin clear line at sunset.

A little further down after the bright Birt crater, another shallow groove can be observed.

If you observe carefully the shadows cast by the central peaks, inside most craters or circuses, you can judge their general shape, but also guess their imposing sizes.

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Ptolemaeus, MAILLARD