[meteorite-list] SMART-1 Image: Eroded Structure in Jacobi Crater - A Window on the Past

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 14 12:55:50 2006
Message-ID: <200608141653.JAA05437_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM8A7BUQPE_FeatureWeek_0.html

Eroded structures in Jacobi crater: a window on the past
SMART-1
European Space Agency
14 August 2006

This high-resolution image, taken by the advanced Moon Imaging
Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows part of
crater Jacobi in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. The rim of the
crater is seen on the upper edge of the image.
 
AMIE obtained this sequence on 18 March 2006 from a distance of about
578 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution of 52 metres
per pixel. The imaged area is centred at a latitude of 56.5?? South and a
longitude of 10.9?? East, with a field of view of 27 km. North is at the
right of the image.

The crater Jacobi itself is much larger than this image - about 70
kilometres in diameter - whereas this image only shows an area of about
25 square kilometres. The single prominent crater to the upper right of
the image centre is ???Jacobi W???, with a diameter of only 7 kilometres. It
is possible to note the peculiar surface structure in the upper left
area of the image, indicating several heavily eroded kilometre-sized
craters having roughly the same size.

"SMART-1 resolution at high solar elevation angle allows us to detect
eroded structures buried under more recent layers" says SMART-1 Project
scientist Bernard Foing, "giving another window on the past evolution of
the Moon".

This area is named after the German mathematician Carl Jacobi (1804 -
1851), who worked on elliptic functions and was active in the field of
celestial mechanics.
 
 
For more information
 
Bernard H. Foing
ESA SMART-1 Project Scientist
Email: bernard.foing _at_ esa.int

Jean-Luc Josset
SPACE-X Space Exploration Institute
Email: jean-luc.josset _at_ space-x.ch
Received on Mon 14 Aug 2006 12:53:08 PM PDT