The Bight of the Lunar Sinus Iridum.
I was a bit late processing this but this is the Sinus Iridum region of a 12.8 day old moon.
This image was captured a couple of days after my previous image of the region.
The area is now virtually fully illuminated by the sun with only a small shadow remaining at the Promontorium Laplace headland at the right tip of the bay.
Looking like a great bite into the surrounding Jura Mountain topography the Sinus Iridium is a large plain of basaltic lava some 249km in diameter. It is surrounded from the northeast to the southwest by the aforementioned Montes Jura range.
The Sinus Iridum is thought to actually be the remains of a large impact crater which was flooded with lava. This lava overwhelmed the "sea wall" ie that perimeter of the crater which bounded the vast Mare Imbrium below.
A prominent crater, Bianchini, sits in the Jura Mountains half-way along the bay.
Imaged with a Celestron C11 SCT and a ZWO 290MM/Baader IR pass filter.
Many thanks, as ever, for looking!
The Bight of the Lunar Sinus Iridum.
I was a bit late processing this but this is the Sinus Iridum region of a 12.8 day old moon.
This image was captured a couple of days after my previous image of the region.
The area is now virtually fully illuminated by the sun with only a small shadow remaining at the Promontorium Laplace headland at the right tip of the bay.
Looking like a great bite into the surrounding Jura Mountain topography the Sinus Iridium is a large plain of basaltic lava some 249km in diameter. It is surrounded from the northeast to the southwest by the aforementioned Montes Jura range.
The Sinus Iridum is thought to actually be the remains of a large impact crater which was flooded with lava. This lava overwhelmed the "sea wall" ie that perimeter of the crater which bounded the vast Mare Imbrium below.
A prominent crater, Bianchini, sits in the Jura Mountains half-way along the bay.
Imaged with a Celestron C11 SCT and a ZWO 290MM/Baader IR pass filter.
Many thanks, as ever, for looking!