Crater Lichtenberg
Date: 02 Mar 2006
Satellite: SMART-1
Depicts: Crater Lichtenberg
Copyright: ESA/Space-X
An image of the prominent crater Lichtenberg with a diameter of 20 km. The crater shows a 1300 m height difference between crater floor and surrounding lava plain. The actual target of this observation was the 'ghost' crater on the lower left of Lichtenberg. It is almost hidden by overflown lava from Oceanus Procellarum in which it is located.
This area is of high geological interest and it was selected for the study of the most recent lunar volcanism. It is thought to contain the youngest basalts on the lunar surface, with an age of about 1000 million years.
Recent data show that lunar volcanism was active for at least 2000 million years from 4000 million years ago, ceasing at about 2000 million years. In Oceanus Procellarum, it is thought that these basalts are the youngest basalts on the lunar surface with an age of less than 1000 million years. This should be compared with the age of the Moon at about 4500 million years.
Lichtenberg is named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799), who was professor at the newly formed University Goettingen.
The image is one of a sequence taken in target tracking mode. The image is raw data and no flat field or other corrections have been applied.
|
Parameter |
Value |
| Date |
15 Jan 2006 |
| Time |
13:43:17 UTC |
| Distance |
2064 km |
| Longitude |
66.8° W |
| Latitude |
32.6° N |
| Resolution |
186 m/pixel |
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Last Update: 30 Mar 2006
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Hi-Res [jpg]
