(ORDO NEWS) — Aristarchus is an impact crater in the northwestern part of the visible side of the Moon, showing a high reflectivity, which made it a very popular object for observation, after the first telescopes were pointed at the Earth ‘s satellite.
The unusual brightness of the crater is due to its relative youth; the rock ejected during an impact event (the fall of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial body) did not have time to darken under the influence of the solar wind.
Alluring Crater Aristarchus
During the era of NASA‘s Apollo lunar program, the crater Aristarchus became one of the central objects of detailed study when a proposal was made to land astronauts there. Alas, the program was closed, and people never visited this charming place.
The crater Aristarchus has a diameter of 40 kilometers, a depth of 2.7 kilometers, and its central peak rises 300 meters above the bottom.
This peak is part of the cosmic body responsible for the formation of the crater – most of the object was destroyed, and some was flooded with molten rock, which quickly solidified.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which took these stunning photos, caught a moment of natural light from the Sun to capture the stark contrast between dark and light rock (remember, light material is younger).
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