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The greatest crater?

By Richard Hill  |  22 Apr 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

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This entry is part 49 of 87 in the series Lunarcy

One of the greatest craters on the moon, depending on your definition I suppose, is the iconic Clavius (231km dia.) seen just left of center here. It has a beautiful arc of secondary craters of decreasing diameters on its floor, from right to left starting with the Rutherfurd (56km) on the southern wall going to Claviius D (28km), C (21km), N (13km) and lastly J (12km). The crater on the north wall of Clavius is Porter (54km). You can just make out a couple craterlets on the floor. These are about 2km in diameter, the limit for this image. On the nights of best seeing, at perigee, this system can make out craters down to 1km.

The crater filled with shadow south of Clavius is Blancanus (109km) and farther down near the bottom of this image iw the beautifully formed Moretus with a sharp central peak and nicely terraced walls. North of Clavius is the largely ruined crater Maginus (168km). Take a look in the upper right corner of the image. Ever see a crater like that? It’s Heraclitus (50x60km) with the crater Heraclitus D (52km). The former is the merge of several craters creating that odd elongated central peak. It’s very identifiable when you pass over it. Below it is a similar sized crater with a small central peak, Lilius (63km) and a little farther on is the slightly larger Zach (73km). Notice how the southern wall of Zach has slumped onto the floor. Theses landmarks can lead you to a lot of enjoyable exploration of this region when the light is right!

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