Monday, December 21, 2009

Inertia curves a Far Side boulder uphill?



Looking through the images and data released to the Planetary Data Systemas part of an informal test by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team at Arizona State University, we poured over a rich boulder landslide field near 233.93°E, 24.46°S, or approximately 100 kilometers west by southwest of the Gerasimovich Swirl. We almost missed it, but our eyes were eventually drawn deep into the long shadows before sunset under LRO Orbit 347. Among many boulder trails we seem to have found one that's a little different. A rather sizable boulder appears to have rolled first downhill, as part of a larger chunk of debris. Part of it seems to actually have rebounded briefly and curved on a terrace back uphill. It then seems to have become lodged into the grade and then afterward become dislodged again, tipping forward where now rests [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].