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Arizona
State University researchers have released a stunning image of the
Moon’s prominent impact crater Tycho, taken with the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) on June 10, 2011. This dramatic
sunrise view of Tycho crater captured by Professor Mark Robinson’s LROC
team with the narrow angle camera could be considered one of the most
beautiful images of the Moon taken to date.
“We
planned the image because it would dramatically show the geologic
relations from a more human perspective. Drama we got!” says Robinson, a
professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration in ASU’s College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “When I first saw the reconstructed image
all I could think was what it would be like to be on the first mission
to Tycho. Imagine coming in for a landing within this geologic
wonderland! When can we go?”
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Named
after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the relatively young Tycho is
the most conspicuous crater visible when the Moon is full. It is a very
popular target with amateur astronomers because it is surrounded by a
distinctive dark halo and radiating bright rays. Located in the southern
lunar highlands at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, the approximately 82-kilometer
(51 miles) wide Tycho crater fits the mold of a typical large complex
impact crater with its flat floor, terraced inner-rim walls and
prominent central peak. The summit of the central peak is 2 km (6562 ft)
above the crater floor, and the crater floor is about 4700 m (15,420
ft) below the rim. Many “clasts” ranging in size from 10 meters to 100s
of meters are exposed in the central peak slopes.
Tycho’s
features are so steep and sharp because the crater is young by lunar
standards, only about 110 million years. Over time micrometeorites, and
not so micro meteorites, will grind and erode these steep slopes into
smooth mountains.
Another
NAC image pair acquired on May 27, 2010, gives an excellent straight
down view of the summit, including the large boulder seen in the oblique
view. Fractured impact melt deposits surround the boulder. The LROC
images clearly show that the central peak formed very quickly; the peak
was there when impact melt that was thrown straight up during the impact
came back down. The fractures probably formed over time as the steep
walls of the central peak slowly eroded and slipped downhill. Eventually
the peak will erode back such that the big boulder will meet its demise
as it slides 2000 m (6,561 ft) to the crater floor.
http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/?archives/411-Tycho-Central-Peak-Spectacular!.html
