Moon Aristarchus Crater Is Subject Of Interest

" Aristarchus (center) and Herodotus (right) from Apollo 15. NASA photo".The cliffs of the ARISTARCHUS CRATER are over two miles (3.5 km high) - twice as deep as the Grand Canyon - with layers of minerals exposed by the huge impact tumbling into the crater below, as images from the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show. Images taken by LRO were published in English publication the "DAILY MAIL". The Moon's ARISTARCHUS CRATER is estimated to be young at 450-million years old. The crater has been determined to have especially rich concentrations of ilmenite, a titanium oxide mineral that could potentially be used in the future by a lunar settlement for extracting oxygen. The crater region has been the subject of several TRANSIENT LUNAR PHENOMENON (TLP), or LUNAR TRANSIENT PHENOMENON (LTP), a short-lived light, color, or change in appearance on the lunar surface.During the first human mission to the Moon in 1969, NASA radioed to Apollo 11: "We've got an observation you can make if you have some time up there. There's been some lunar transient events reported in the vicinity of Aristarchus." Astronomers in Bochum, West Germany, had observed a bright glow on the lunar surface-the same sort of eerie luminescence that has intrigued moon watchers for centuries. The report was passed on to Houston and thence to the astronauts. Almost immediately, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong reported back, "Hey, Houston, I'm looking north up toward Aristarchus now, and there's an area that is considerably more illuminated than the surrounding area. It seems to have a slight amount of fluorescence." Apollo moon landing planners had the crater high on its human exploration target list. It remains a target of interest in the 21st century, possibly one of enormous resources to support lunar colonization.

Categories: aliens, aristarchus, planetary science