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Where is Aristarchus on the Moon?

Where is Aristarchus on the Moon?

The crater is 26 miles (42 kilometers) in diameter and approximately 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) in depth, and sits at the southeastern edge of the Aristarchus Plateau. Aristarchus is one of the youngest and largest craters on the Moon. The crater formed between 100 and 900 million years ago.

How was the Aristarchus crater formed?

The impact occurred following the creation of the Copernicus crater, but before the appearance of Tycho crater. Based on the asymmetrical spread of the ejecta, it was formed by an object that struck at a low angle to the surface, arriving from the north-east.

What is the huge crater on the moon?

South Pole–Aitken basin
The South Pole–Aitken basin (SPA Basin, /ˈeɪtkɪn/) is an immense impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is one of the largest known impact craters in the Solar System.

What is the name of a crater on the moon?

Tycho Crater is one of the most prominent craters on the Moon.

What is the brightest part of the Moon?

Aristarchus is a lunar impact crater that lies in the northwest part of the Moon’s near side. It is considered the brightest of the large formations on the lunar surface, with an albedo nearly double that of most lunar features.

How did Aristarchus measure the distance to the Moon?

Aristarchus suggested that the ratio of the Sun’s and the Moon’s distances from Earth could be obtained via measuring the lunar elongation β at half moon and using the cosine formula: cos β=rM/rS. However, because the Sun is much farther away from Earth than the Moon, the elongation β at half moon is very close to 90°.

Why is the Aristarchus crater so bright?

Aristarchus is bright because it is a relatively young formation, approximately 450 million years old, and the solar wind has not yet had time to darken the excavated material by the process of space weathering. The impact occurred following the creation of the ray crater Copernicus, but before the appearance of Tycho.

How did Aristarchus affect the world?

Aristarchus managed to place the Sun in the middle of the solar system and he also placed the planets in the right order from the Sun. Aristarchus was one of the first astronomers to calculate the relative sizes of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth.

What is the biggest crater in the universe?

List of largest craters in the Solar System

Body Crater Crater diameter
Earth Chicxulub crater 182 km (113 mi)
Luna (moon of Earth) Procellarum 3,000 km (2,000 mi)
South Pole–Aitken basin 2,500 km (1,600 mi)
Imbrium 1,145 km (711 mi)

Does the sun shine on the whole moon?

The moon itself shines by reflecting sunlight. In fact, a full moon is about 30 times larger and more than 1,300 times brighter than the planet Venus.