This composite image, obtained by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, shows a nice scene near the Moon terminator (the line separating lunar day and night).

Low solar elevation on the landscape produces long shadows of several craters reshaped by lava, debris and erosion, and other geological features.

The AMIE camera obtained the snapshot images on 5 and 6 February 2006, from altitudes ranging between 2685 km (bottom of the composite) and 2709 km (top). Each individual snapshot, taken with the AMIE clear filter, is a square of about 135 kilometres per side. The whole composite covers approximately 270 square kilometres.

On the lower right it is possible to see C. Mayer, a complex impact crater 38 kilometres in diameter, located not far away from the northern edge of the Mare Frigoris (63.2° N, 17.3° E).

This composite image was obtained by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft. Crater Mayer (63.2° N, 17.3° E), a complex impact structure of 38 kilomteres in diameter, is visible on the lower right of the image. On the left of the image it is possible to see crater Bond (5.3° N, 4.5° E), whose outer rim has been extensively eroded. Today it looks like an irregular walled plain of about 156 kilometres in diameter. The sanpshot images were obtained on 5 and 6 February 2006, from altitudes ranging between 2685 km (bottom of the composite) and 2709 km (top). Each individual snapshot, taken with the AMIE clear filter, is about 135 square kilometres. The whole composite covers an area of approximately 270 square kilometres.

Credits: ESA/Space-X Space Exploration Institute

This crater was formed in relatively recent times. Ejected material is visible around the crater as a smooth hilly area. Terraces formed during the crater collapse can be seen in the inner walls of its sharp-edged rim – an almost polygon-shaped feature – and the crater’s interior is rough and irregular. The illuminated central peak appears very clearly. The lava formation attached to the south-eastern rim of the crater is of particular interest.  

Areas of AMIE’s observations On the left of the image is W. Bond, today an irregular walled plain of about 156 kilometres in diameter (5.3° N, 4.5° E). The outer rim of the original W. Bond crater has been eroded and reshaped, and now it basically consists of an outline of hills and mounts. The interior floor is relatively flat in comparison with the rim region, although there are sections of rough terrain near the northern rim.

In the centre of the walled plain is a narrow ditch that runs toward east. To the southeast of this formation is ‘W. Bond B’, a circular, simple bowl-shaped crater. It is interesting to see the contrast between the rough texture of W. Bond (left of the image) and the smooth surface of the plains at the centre of the image.

  The floor of the large crater W. Bond is littered with scattered blocks, likely originating from ejecta from the impact that created the Imbrium basin. The original W.Bond crater must have been filled to a depth of about 2 km, and then cut by the ditch. This provides a rare example of a linear ditch that cuts the ejecta generated by an impact basin.

This image shows some of the areas covered by SMART-1 AMIE camera, soverimposed on a NASA/Clementine’s scenery. The AMIE observations were performed on 5 and 6 February 2006. Crater Bond and crater Mayer are among the relevant features observed.

Credits: NASA/Clementine

For more information:

Jean-Luc Josset
SPACE-X Space Exploration Institute
E-mail: jean-luc.josset@space-x.ch

Bernard H. Foing
ESA SMART-1 Project Scientist
E-mail: bernard.foing@esa.int