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Nectarian Nectar

By Richard Hill  |  26 Jul 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

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This entry is part 81 of 87 in the series Lunarcy

The grand crater to the upper left from center is Shickard (184 km dia.) the largest crater in this image, what we used to called “walled plains”. It is a very ancient crater of “Pre-Nectarian” age some 3.9-4.5 billion years old. Another crater is on the opposite side of the image, in the lower right looking like a giant footprint. This is Schiller (179 x 71 km), a little younger than Shickard being “Nectarian”, 3.85-3.92 billion years old. It is the combination of at least two impacts with a curious ridge running down the center of the north half. There is a beautiful flyover video from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter online that shows these features in startling detail. I recommend it to all lunar aficionados.

But this region boasts several more magnificent craters. At the top of this image is another odd “crater” the pear-shaped crater Hainzel (70 km) formed from several overlapping impacts. The northernmost and sharpest crater is Hainzel A with strange terracing on its inner walls almost to the center of the crater. The smaller lobe-like feature to the south is Hainzel C with flooding to the north where it shares a border with Hainzel A. Hainzel itself is the large depression on which these two sit. It is best seen below the first two craters and is much older (Nectarian) and heavily eroded by the younger impacts.

Below center is the large walled plain, Phoclydes (117 km) another Nectarian crater but look at the odd plateau just above it. This is the crater Wargentin (87 km) also Nectarian (seeing a pattern here?) that filled with lava after it had cooled and then that solidified as well. But why this did not happen at other craters nearby that are the same age is an intriguing question that still has not been answered.

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