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Atlas Sunset

By Richard Hill  |  18 Nov 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

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This entry is part 84 of 87 in the series Lunarcy

The region of Lacus Mortis (left of center) is the hexagonal plain with the nearly central crater Burg (41km dia.) that has a valley dividing its central peak in two, surrounded by nice hummocky terrain for another 40km or so. There are some interesting rimae (what we used to call “rilles”) around the Lacus starting at the 8 O’Clock position from Burg where there is a shear fault that points to the north from the rim of the Lacus. Moving up from there is a graben that extends out to the north of Burg. Then above Burg is a short rima only about 25-30km long, that appears to be a catena formed from impact debris. probably from the Burg impact since it is the youngest in the area, being of Copernican age (1.1 billion years ago to present).
Below Burg are a pair of craters, the flat floored or flooded crater Plana (42km) and to the right of it is a smaller flat floored crater Mason. Between them and below (south) is the crater Mason B, a very fresh crater as is the small unnamed 3km crater below and to the right of it. About 20-25km below Mason B on the plain of Lacus Somniorum, is a low isolated dome. Moving further south you come to the crater Grove (29km) at the bottom of this image. Due east of Burg (right) are the two large craters. The nearest being Hercules (68km) with the large Hercules G (13km) crater on its floor. Then deep in evening shadow further east is Atlas. These two craters are more familiar to the amateur observer as two of the more identifiable features in the waxing crescent moon.
Notice above Atlas there is the hint of a crater outline. This is Atlas E (59km), very ancient possibly pre-Imbrian, and deeply overlain by ejecta from both Atlas and Hercules. Further north you can just make out Keldysh (33km) almost completely in the night’s shadow.

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