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Mare Nectaris

Mare Nectaris is in the south-eastern quadrant of the moon and features a dark lava-filled basin with relatively few sizeable craters.

Mare Nectaris

Towards the south of Mare Nectaris (top centre) is a small, but deep crater - Rosse is just 7 miles in diameter but has walls 7000ft high. Nearby in the top-left of the image is the adjacent walled plain Fracastorius with high walls showing steep slopes around the south-eastern edge of its 75-mile diameter floor which is featuring small craters Fracastorius L, M and N, just about resolved in the image. They are only 2-3 miles in diameter.

On the opposite northern side of Mare Nectaris are a couple of 25-30 mile diameter "ghost" craters, the more prominent of which is Daguerre. Towards the east is an area with many small craters. The two more prominent slightly overlapping craters at the bottom are Isidorus (25mi) on the left which shows Isidorus A (6mi), a small craterlet in the illuminated part of its floor. The neighbour to the right is Capella (30mi) with a central peak and steep walls which are 10,000ft high - twice as high as Isidorus.

Lots of interesting craters and detail towards the East of Mare Nectaris, however my favourite is the larger crater Gutenberg (45mi) near the right edge in the bottom half of the image. The eastern walls are crushed by Gutenberg E (16mi) and the crater floor shows central mountains.

(c) 2008 Solar Worlds - All rights reserved. Last updated 04 September 2009. ìTell a friend