Inside the north wall of Recht crater rests a 130 meter-long boulder. LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M126120516L (centered near 9.77°N, 123.97°E), LRO orbit 3720, April 17, 2010, resolution 0.56 meters per pixel, solar incidence angle 20° [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Sarah BradenLROC News System
Recht crater (~19 km in diameter) is located on the far side of the Moon, at 9.8°N, 124°E. The boulder is located on the northern half of Recht crater's interior wall. The boulder is about 130 meters long, or about one and half times as long as an American football field. Boulder fields on the Moon are common. Large boulder fields are usually part of an ejecta deposit surrounding the parent crater. It is also common for boulders to gather where blocks on a slope are dislodged from the regolith or rock outcrops in a process known as gravity-driven mass wasting. However, the boulder in today's featured image has no boulder trail, so it probably was emplaced at the time of the impact that created Recht crater. After the initial impact, the boulder fell as part of the impact ejecta and, as material on the wall of the crater settled, was partially covered with wall material.
Recht, just shy of 10 degrees north of the equator in the lunar far side highlands. LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) monochrome mosaic (100 meters per pixel). The 100 meter boulder seen in the LROC Narrow Angle Camera featured image March 8, 2011 is inside the crater's north rim [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].
Find the boulder on the full NAC frame, HERE. What else can you find on the interior wall of Recht crater?
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Kepler's Central Peak
Gassendi's Central Peak
Southern rim of Menelaus
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