aristarchus plain (APOD 30 Nov 2007)

jelfjelf · Post by **jelfjelf** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:15 pm

In the photo of Aristarchus Plain; am I not looking at what appears to be a SQUARE area surrounding the major geological artifacts? Square comets creating square impact craters? Hmmmm

iamlucky13 · Post by **iamlucky13** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:55 pm

Square-ish. From the caption:

Aristarchus Plateau itself is like a rectangular island about 200 kilometers across, raised up to 2 kilometers or so above the smooth surface of the lunar Ocean of Storms.

From the linked text for the Plateau:

The Aristarchus plateau is a rectangular, elevated crustal block about 200 km across, surrounded by the vast mare lava plains of Oceanus Procellarum...The plateau was probably uplifted, tilted, and fractured by the Imbrium basin impact...The plateau has experienced intense volcanic activity.

jelfjelf · Post by **jelfjelf** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:57 pm

Boy, am I blind. Do the reading. But I didn't, not well enough. Thank you for your helpful reply re; Aristarchus plain.

iamlucky13 · Post by **iamlucky13** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:45 pm

Glad to help. The links tend to get overlooked, but often questions about an APOD that aren't answered in the caption can be gleaned from reading a few of them.