Contains:  Solar system body or event
Huygens Sword, Bruce Rohrlach

Huygens Sword

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging
Huygens Sword, Bruce Rohrlach

Huygens Sword

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

The straight wall (Rupes Recta) - colloquially known as Huygens Sword, is a 120-km-long fault scarp on the eastern edge of Mare Nubium. When illuminated from the east (this image) the fault scarp is in shadow and the blade appears black. When illuminated from the west the fault scarp is searing white against the surrounding mare basalts. The vertical displacement on the fault is around 300 metres. The handle to the sword is comprised of the Stag’s Horn Mountains (the crescent-shaped remains of a crater that is half buried by lava flows).

Crater near top-left is Thebit whilst crater in the centre near the 50-km-long rille is Birt. To the right of Birt are a series of dorsa (“wrinkle ridges”) that traverse Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds), and are evidence of compressional stress in the lunar crust. Promontorium Taenarium to the lower-left.

Comments

Histogram

Huygens Sword, Bruce Rohrlach