A weird lunar lava field
Cool image time! The image on the right, reduced and rotated 180 degrees to post here, comes from a recent release for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). It shows a flow of lava that partly covers an older terrain.
Some scientists propose that Ina formed as very young (less than 100 million years) volcanic eruptions because only a few larger impact craters (>20 m) have formed on its surface. Others believe it is quite ancient (3.5 billion years), possessing highly unusual physical properties that stifle the formation of normal impact craters. At least everybody agrees it was formed as basalt was erupted to the surface! But how and when Ina formed remains open.
Ina’s morphology is so unusual that it is easy to see inverted topography – that is, craters appear as bubbles rather than bowls! Think of Ina as a cast iron frying pan with freshly poured pancake batter; the wiggly textured material is the frying pan and the bulbous smoother mounds are the batter.
The image to the right has been rotated 180 degrees so that my mind at least can see it with the craters as bowls and the uplifted smooth lava as uplifted. If this doesn’t work for you, click on the link and look at the original image.
While some scientists think the lava flows are recent, no one knows at present the origins of the rougher terrain that the lava has partly obscured.
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Cool image time! The image on the right, reduced and rotated 180 degrees to post here, comes from a recent release for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). It shows a flow of lava that partly covers an older terrain.
Some scientists propose that Ina formed as very young (less than 100 million years) volcanic eruptions because only a few larger impact craters (>20 m) have formed on its surface. Others believe it is quite ancient (3.5 billion years), possessing highly unusual physical properties that stifle the formation of normal impact craters. At least everybody agrees it was formed as basalt was erupted to the surface! But how and when Ina formed remains open.
Ina’s morphology is so unusual that it is easy to see inverted topography – that is, craters appear as bubbles rather than bowls! Think of Ina as a cast iron frying pan with freshly poured pancake batter; the wiggly textured material is the frying pan and the bulbous smoother mounds are the batter.
The image to the right has been rotated 180 degrees so that my mind at least can see it with the craters as bowls and the uplifted smooth lava as uplifted. If this doesn’t work for you, click on the link and look at the original image.
While some scientists think the lava flows are recent, no one knows at present the origins of the rougher terrain that the lava has partly obscured.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Number 99 on the Lunar 100 observation list. Quite challenging to observe with amateur telescopes!
I mostly see bowls instead of craters. And it’s irritatingly hard to switch it around. Does it really help to rotate the image? I’ll try that next time.
Yes, It’s best to have the shadow of an object towards the bottom of the image, towards yourself.
That’s what your brain is looking for.
If you look closely at a shaded relief map, that shows terrain features, the shadows will be down to the lower right. As if illuminated from the upper left.
“using a southern light source can cause multistable perception illusions, in which the topography appears inverted.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrain_cartography
I wonder if the rough surface that lacks obvious craters is a brittle crust that meteorites simply punch through to be embedded in the softer and older material beneath.
Think of it like this. A BB shot at smooth sand will leave a crater-like impression, but if there is a sheet of paper placed on top of the sand, the BB will leave a small a small hole in the paper and be absorbed by the sand without leaving much of a crater under the paper. The paper prevents the large displacement of ejected material that forms the crater.
Just an idea that something similar may be at play here. Perhaps what appears to be small craters in overlying surface may actually be much deeper holes.
@mpthompson That’s a cool idea! The hollow Moon. Maybe one can match them with exit craters on the far side :-D
The link to the LROC site is very rewarding. Thanks.
I have copied and sent the LROC site to teacher friends. Great project material there !