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Segment 5
A FF - crater Posidonius, Lava borders in Mare
Tranquilitatis, The Apollo 17 region with its pyroclastic deposits and the
lunar cones Isis and Osiris. Segment 5
B Gardner megaplateau, Domefield Cauchy
west, Jansen and Carrel, Menelaus and Arago Segment 5 C
Hyginus, Murchinson, Manilius and Yangel (Sinus Fidei) Segment 5
D Aristillus, Autolycus, Rima Hadley (Apollo 15), Palus
Putredinus, Valentine Dome |
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Gardner megadome - Apollo 17 - Moon age 5.5 days
(25 %) The area around
the 19 km wide crater Gardner is classified as a putative megadome plateau in
the literature. It has a diameter of about 80 kilometers, making it the largest
of these plateaus on the front side of the Moon. To the west there are the
Taurus-Littrow mountains (landing site of Apollo 17) with the large-scale
pyroclastic deposits.
The area in the south and southwest include the
large dome fields around the crater Jansen and Cauchy. Directly to the south,
at the foothills of the Gardner plateau, the first flat Cauchy domes become
visible. The Jansen region is still at dawn and the crater Jansen itself seems
to be located on a plateau. |
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Cauchy domefield - Moon age 5.5 days (25 %)
The Cauchy ddmefield is besides the domefields in
Hortenius and Milichius (near Copernicus, see Section
8 C) one of the largest on the front of the moon. The Cauchy domes are
classiefied as effusive and have diameters from 6 to 17 km and heights of
45-270 meters. The most famous are certainly Cauchy Tau and Cauchy Omega. Many
of the Cauchy domes have summit calderas.
Due to the low height, e.g.,
Cauchy 5 = 100 Meter, an successful observation needs the right illumination
conditions of about 20 to 30%) |
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Interesting
in this region are also Rupes- and Rima Cauchy. One of it is a mountainside the
other a linear rille and both are nearly parallel to each other. Following
their general direction to the northwest one arrives pretty much in the middle
of the large Imbrium basin. Also interesting is that the Cauchy Dome is also
roughly oriented in this direction. It is unclear if this is coincidence or
not. |
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Carell - Moon age 5.5 days (25 %) Directly southeast of the crater Carrel is another
effusive dome with a diameter of 8.6 kilometers and a height of only 45 meters
(in our image not visible). |
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NEW 2016 Carrel,
Cauchy and
Vitruvius - Moonage 5.8 days (29 %)
Not a very good image but there is a
hint of the Dome Car 1 with a diameter of 8.6 kilometers and a height of at
only 45 meters. Furthermore, some of the Cauchy Dome are visible.
The Vitruvius
dome Vi 1 to Vi 6 with a diameter of 5 to 7.5 kilometers and heights between 50
to 130 meters are also marked in this image. Like most of the Cauchy domes the
Vitruvius dome are radially oriented to the Imbrium basin. |
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Gardner megadome - Apollo 17 Moon age 6.1 days (30 %)
At a lunar age of 6.1 days the Gardner Plateau is
still visible and the sun is rising above the landing site of Apollo 17. The
Region Jansen also left shadow of the Moon. |
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Cauchy domefield -
Moon age 6.1 days (30 %)
In these illumination conditions many of the Cauchy
domes are no longer visible. Only the highest are still visible due to their
shadows. |
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Jansen domefield -
Moon age 6.1 days (30 %)
The domes around the crater Jansen (23 km) are
still associated with the Cauchy domefield. Just south of Jansen is a short
sinusoidal rille - Rima Jansen. The rillee ends at a completely flooded crater.
With this illumination the dome Arago alpha becomes visible on th etop of the
image. It is certainly one of the most spectacular lunar domes.
The domes Vi 2, 3 and 5 are assigned to the
crater Vitruvius. |
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Arago dome -
Moon age 6.1 days (30 %)
The two large domes Arago Alpha and Beta are located
in the north and west of the crater Arago (26 km). Both are "show pieces" for
the Celestron 14 because it clearly shows details in the slopes of the domes.
They have diameters of 25.5 (Alpha) and 23.5 kilometers (Beta) and heights of
330 and 270 meters. They are effusive domes that arose from several successive
lava flows.
West of Arago is a poorly understood lunar structure -
Lamont. Is it a completely flooded crater or a small basin? The only certainty
is that the center of Lamont is a MASCON - a mass anomaly. |
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The other
Arago domes are also classified as effusive and have diameters between 5.5 and
11 kilometers. They are extremely low with heights between 45 and 50
meters. |
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Menelaus domes -
Moon age 6.5 days (35 %)
Directly in the north of the crater Menelaus (27 km)
are two effusive domes, Men 1 and 2 which are difficult to observe. They are
classified as C2 domes and divided by the Rima Menelaus. So they belong to the
bisected domes. The eastern dome (Men 2) has a diameter of 14.4 kilometers and
is 110 meters high. The western dome (Men 1) has a diameter of 12.6 kilometers
but reaches a height of 180 meters.
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NEW 2016 Menelaus Dome -
Moonage 7.8 days (49.5 %)
At an illumination of 49.5 % ( Moon
age 7.8 days ) the flat dome Menelaus 2 is practically invisible, Menelaus 1 is
just detectable. |
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Moon age
7.1 days - Illumination 40 % |
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Arago domes -
Moon age 7.1 days (40 %)
At a lunar age of 7.1 days, the two great Arago
domes (Alpha, Beta) are nearly unvisible. Compare with
the upper image just 24 hours earlier. |
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Menelaus domes -
Moon age 7.5 days (45 %)
Men 1 and Men 2 at an illumination of 45%. Men 2
ist nearly unvisible.
To the west, around Rimae Sulpicius Gallus there
is a large area with pyroclastic deposits. |
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Moon age
18.9 days - Illumination 72 % - waning
Moon |
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Gardner megadome -
Moon age 18.9 days (72 %)
When the Gardner Dome was once a mega volcano, the
marked structure in our image could have been the large caldera. |
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Apollo 17 -
Moon age 18.9 days (72 %)
The Gardner megaplateau and Apollo 17 landing
site at waning Moon. |
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All Images - otherwise marked - and all Content are
© by Franz Hofmann + Wolfgang Paech |