Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Bright Lunar Ray Systems (all night)

Near the full moon phase, bright ray features may be seen radiating from the younger craters on the lunar near side. The impact that created the bright crater Tycho, located in the south-central area of the moon, produced streaks of bright material that extend thousands of km in all directions across the moon's near side. Another particularly interesting ray system surrounds the crater Proclus. The 28 km wide crater and its ray system are visible in binoculars. They are located at the lower left edge of Mare Crisium, the
round grey basin near the moon's upper right edge (northeast on the moon).
The Proclus rays, about 600 km in length, only appear on the eastern, right- hand side of the crater, and within Mare Crisium, suggesting that the
impactor arrived at a shallow angle from the southwest. The small crater Menelaus on the southern edge of Mare Serenitatis hosts some small rays. A long, possibly unrelated, ray passes through both Menelaus and the mare.
(Note that east and west are reversed on the moon).

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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