NASA Member Captures Photo of South Rim of Aristarchus Crater

While flying at an altitude of 135 km, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA managed to take photos of an interesting view of the crater Aristarchus facing down at 40 km wide southern rim from the west of the crater. The photo shows the broad flank of the 300 meter central peak of Aristarchus as well as the hills around it on the left which cast long shadows in the setting sun.

Aristarchus is a famous crater that is situated next to the northwestern limb of the moon within the geologically diverse Oceanus Procellarum known as the Ocean of Storms. It derived its name from the first Greek astronomer to propose a contentious heliocentric model for the solar system way back in the third century BCE. The floor of this famous crater drops 3.7 km under the surrounding lunar landscape. Aristarchus is also enclosed by rays of bright ejecta which extend down its stepped rim. The bright rays of the ejecta form patters of light and dark material that line the slopes of the central peak of the famous crater which indicate that they could also be made out of the same material.

It is estimated that this famous crater was formed some 450 million years back from the impact of excavated subsurface material that melted and spread up to 10s of kilometers across the surrounding plateau. It is also assumed that the central peak is the result of similar stuff that composed and dredged up from impact and froze at the current position. If lunar explorers would ever tour this place in future, then probably they should pick samples from the central peak and the bright ejecta for comparison to see if the two match. This comparison will be useful to researchers who may be interested in learning how the material was composed especially the one from the plateau of rocks that are spread across the surface.