This image shows the great rift on the moon known as Rima Hyginus. This large rille can be seen as a near horizontal line crossing a small crater near the center of the image, then changing directions and extending at about a 45 degree angle to the upper right. The crater at the center of the rift is Hyginus Crater. The rille also appears to correspond with an alignment of craterlets.
Hyginus Crater is believed to date from the Imbrian geological period over 3 billion years ago. It is about 6 miles in diameter, and the walls are 2400 feet high. The rille and crater are a very interesting formation best viewed about 6 days after new moon or about 5 days after full moon.
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This image was taken with a ToUcam webcam. Individual frames from the video captured with the ToUcam were aligned and stacked using Registax. The image was taken from my backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a Mewlon-210 scope carried on an EM-10 mount. A Takahashi VariExtender was used to lengthen the focal length of the scope to about f18.4.
July 20, 2003
Image by Sid Leach
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