Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The smooth anomaly in Copernicus


With the exception of recent impacts (such as this one) into the floor material, much of the northwestern floor of Copernicus appears smooth and relatively featureless (upper right corner). This region on the crater floor appears similar to mare basalt flows, but studies show that volcanism has not shaped the landscape of Copernicus' interior. Instead, it is possible that a vast volume of melt was created during impact that cooled differentially across the crater floor, such that some areas appear smooth while others are hummocky. LROC NAC M135317661L; LRO orbit 5075, August 1, 2010, res. 50 cm; field of view = 260 meters [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].


Why is the full northeastern quarter of Copernicus' floor so relatively smooth? Increased access to the LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) observations is allowing a fresh look even at one of the most photographed craters on the Moon; LROC WAC Mosaic, January 8, 2010. [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Lillian Ostrach
LROC News System

With the exception of recent impacts (such as this one) into the floor material of Copernicus, much of the northwestern floor of Copernicus appears smooth and relatively featureless. This region on the crater floor appears similar to mare basalt flows, but studies show volcanism has not shaped the landscape of Copernicus' interior. Instead, it's possible a vast volume of melt was created at impact that cooled differentially across the crater floor such that some areas appear smooth while others are hummocky. LROC NAC M135317661L, frame width = 2.5 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].


West Copernicus, from a LROC Wide Angle Camera 60 meter/pixel monochrome (643nm) mosaic stitched from observations gathered during successive LRO orbits (2816-2820), February 4, 2010, and made possible by Ron Evans' LROC_WAC_Previewer (v.1.6) and Microsoft Research Image Composition Editor (ICE v.1.5) . The arrow indicates the approximate position of the NAC image at top [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

How many blocky craters can you find in this smooth region on Copernicus' floor? Count them in the full LROC NAC image.

Related posts: Central Peak of Copernicus Crater

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