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Gassendi-Letronne_10.05.2014_183952-UT

 

(Freely adapted from Wikipedia)

 

Gassendi is a large lunar crater (dia. 110 Km, dep. 1.9 Km) feature located at the northern edge of Mare Humorum. The formation has been inundated by lava during the formation of the mare, so only the rim and the multiple central peaks remain above the surface. The outer rim is worn and eroded, although it retains a generally circular form. A smaller crater Gassendi A intrudes into the northern rim, and joins a rough uplift at the northwest part of the floor. The crater pair bears a curious resemblance to a diamond ring.

In the southern part of the crater floor is a semi-circular ridge-like formation that is concentric with the outer rim. It is in the southern part where the rim dips down to its lowest portion, and a gap appears at the most southern point. The rim varies in height from as little as 200 meters to as high as 2.5 kilometers above the surface. The floor has numerous hummocks and rough spots. There is also a system of rilles that criss-cross the floor, named the Rimae Gassendi. Gassendi was considered for a possible landing site during the Apollo program, but was never selected. However, it was imaged at high resolution by Lunar Orbiter 5, for this reason. 

 

Letronne is the lava-flooded remnant of a lunar crater (dia. 120 Km, dep. 1.0 Km). The northern part of the rim is completely missing, and opens into the Oceanus Procellarum, forming a bay along the southwestern shore. The surviving rim of Letronne is now little more than a semi-circular series of ridges. The rim is the most intact along the eastern stretch, forming a mountainous promontory into the mare.

 




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