Real Lunar Mysteries

[trainedobserver]

Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor

What are these circular features? These mounds are found within a large pool of now-solidified impact melt covering the floor of King crater (5.0°N and 120.5°E). North is up, and sunlight is coming from the east, which is how we can tell at a glance that these are positive-relief constructs, and not negative-relief impact craters (compare with some of the obvious craters in the image to convince yourself that this is true). There are many such mounds on the King crater floor. They are often circular, but occur in groups with irregular outlines as well.
One interpretation of the mounds is that the King impact melt remained hot long enough after accumulating as a pond, and partially crusting over during cooling, to still "ooze" here and there through holes or cracks in the fresh crust. The soft melt quickly cooled after reaching the surface and built itself up vertically while spreading out laterally at each point where this happened ... think of pressing a board with holes in it on a layer of wet mud or toothpaste.
...from the LROC article.

 

[Skymon876]

Could they be craters but when looked at from that angle they look like mounds?

I dont know to be honest.

I will input more later.

Good Thread

 

[pixelsmith]

Could they be craters but when looked at from that angle they look like mounds?

I dont know to be honest.

I will input more later.

Good Thread

North is up, and sunlight is coming from the east, which is how we can tell at a glance that these are positive-relief constructs, and not negative-relief impact craters (compare with some of the obvious craters in the image to convince yourself that this is true).

maybe you missed this part RygyWa

 

[Skymon876]

maybe you missed this part RygyWa

Yup I guess I did.

More later..............

 

[boomerang]

If you want to go crazy in a pleasant sort of way, view the moon with a good quality telescope at high mag on a steady night. The longer you look, the stranger the shapes and shadows appear. And some of them are genuinely strange.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

need the quality telescope part!

 

[exo_doc]

Here is a genuine lunar mystery that anyone can see with a moderately good telescope.
There are two craters side by side named Messier and W.H.Pickering. Astronomers have been puzzling over exactly how these two apprently connected craters formed. Here are some photos of them.

The third one shows the two rays extending away from Messier, such as might happen from a sideways or sharp angled impact. However, if you look at the crater lips, it doesn't look like it could have fortmed that way.
I know there are better photos of these craters but I can't locate them right now.
Anyway, I have spent hours looking at those craters through telescopes, and it never loses it mystery.

 

[Ron Collins]

Here is a genuine lunar mystery that anyone can see with a moderately good telescope.
There are two craters side by side named Messier and W.H.Pickering. Astronomers have been puzzling over exactly how these two apprently connected craters formed. Here are some photos of them.

The third one shows the two rays extending away from Messier, such as might happen from a sideways or sharp angled impact. However, if you look at the crater lips, it doesn't look like it could have fortmed that way.
I know there are better photos of these craters but I can't locate them right now.
Anyway, I have spent hours looking at those craters through telescopes, and it never loses it mystery.

do you have the exact location of this feature? Maybe it's name? I would appreciate it.

 

[trainedobserver]

do you have the exact location of this feature? Maybe it's name? I would appreciate it.

Messier and Messier A in Mare Fecunditatis. The image in the middle is AS11-42-6304 taken by Apollo 11 and can be found in the Apollo Image Atlas.

 

[Wade]

Is it just my imagination that the more elongated crater looks concave, with angled sides and a seam running along the bottom? It must be, for if this were the case, it would probably bear mentioning on the nasa site . I'm not up on lunar mysteries is the going theory that both these craters are from a single impact such as what you get from a skipping stone on a pond?

 

[exo_doc]

TRAINED.........Thanks for the NASA image link, couldn't find that earlier.
BTW, my lunar map book says the two craters are named W.H.Pickering & Messier, yet NASA says Messier & Messier B....first time I've heard that. Wonder if they changed the name of Pickering?

SPOOKY,.... yes the crater is elongated in a very weird way, it almost looks excavated. There are several theories for their formations, some involve a skipping impact, but no theory really fits what is seen.