L8 - Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina
This sequence of craters provides a nice compact example of how craters change as they age. These craters are almost the same diameter, but the details within them are significantly different. Theophilus is the youngest crater which still shows many of the details from the original impact that created it, including a well-defined central peak. Cyrillus is older and has been partially filled with magma. The floor is relatively smooth, but the central peak still stands out. Catharina is the oldest. Magma has filled it to the point where the central peak is no longer visible. More recent impacts within Catharina have left their mark.
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Images © Doug Anderson
This image was taken on 22-Sep-2005 through a 203mm Celestron C-8 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector afocally coupled to an Olympus C-700 digital camera through a 40mm eyepiece. North is up.