Plato crater<\/a>, in the Alps at the edge of the mare, it shows no trace of any central peak, but unlike Plato its floor is light-coloured, not dark grey.<\/span><\/p>\nThe walls are terraced, and its shape is almost perfectly circular, though as seen from Earth it is foreshortened into an ellipse.<\/span><\/p>\n ![\""Archimedes\"]( "\\"\"Moon_Archimedes_001\"\\"")
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Archimedes by Mick Nicholls, Sheffield, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher MAK180 Pro Maksutov, ZWO ASI120MM CCD, HEQ5 Pro Synscan goto mount.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nWhen I first saw a photograph of it taken from an orbiting spacecraft, I was impressed by its regularity. <\/span><\/p>\nUsing the Lowell refractor at Flagstaff in Arizona, I have made careful searches for interior detail, but have never been able to make out more than light streaks and a few tiny, shallow pits.<\/span><\/p>\nThis must be one of the smoothest areas anywhere on the Moon.<\/span><\/p>\nThe other members of the trio are smaller, and Aristillus has a wonderful triple-peaked central structure. <\/span><\/p>\nNorth of Archimedes, beyond the well-marked Spitzbergen Mountains, the mare is smooth.<\/span><\/p>\nBetween Archimedes and Autolycus the area has become known as the Sinus Lunicus, and contains two distinct craterlets: C has a diameter of 8km and D with a diameter of 5km.<\/span><\/p>\n ![\""Aristillus,\"]( "\\"\"Moon_Aristillus_002\"\\"")
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Aristillus, Autolycus, Archimedes and Montes Spitzbergen by Avani Soares, Parsec Observatory, Canoas, Brazil. Equipment: C14 Edge, ASI 224, Powermate 2X, L filter<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nOn 14 September 1959 the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 came down here. We\u2019re not sure about its precise impact point, because it crash-landed and sent back no signal after arrival, but it was a notable achievement and the Russians can certainly claim to have been \u2018first on the Moon\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\nPerhaps the wreckage will be found one day. More than a decade later, on 30 July 1971, the Apollo 15 astronauts landed in the foothills of the Apennines, 200km southeast of Archimedes. <\/span><\/p>\nJust southeast of Archimedes in the Palus Putredinis (the Marsh of Decay) lies the 11km satellite crater Spurr, which is almost submerged; only its southern half protrudes significantly, though the northern half is traceable.<\/span><\/p>\nIt was known as Archimedes K before being renamed in honour of Josiah Edward Spurr (1870-1950), an American geologist who wrote a classic book in support of the theory that the lunar craters are volcanic. <\/span><\/p>\nI was a strong advocate of this theory until the evidence against it became overwhelming! Bancroft, formerly Archimedes A, is a bowl-shaped, 13km crater to the southwest. <\/span><\/p>\nThis whole area is one of the most photogenic on the Moon. Take an image including the Archimedes trio together with the southern end of the Apennines, and I guarantee that you will be pleased with the result.<\/span><\/p>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Patrick Moore Published: Monday, 09 August 2021 at 12:00 am Archimedes crater is the largest formation on the Mare Imbrium. It comes into view soon after first quarter Moon, and is easy to identify whenever it is sunlit. It is clearly shown on the map drawn by Thomas Harriot in 1609, well before Galileo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[34],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Patrick Moore Published: Monday, 09 August 2021 at 12:00 am Archimedes crater is the largest formation on the Mare Imbrium. It comes into view soon after first quarter Moon, and is easy to identify whenever it is sunlit. It is clearly shown on the map drawn by Thomas Harriot in 1609, well before Galileo…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/22060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\""An\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2021\/08\/Archimedes-crater-ab0168b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C536"\" "\\"\"An\\"")
<\/div>![\""Archimedes\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/MOON-17th-MARCH-2016.F-cf050f2-e1628517503411.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C483"\" "\\"\"Moon_Archimedes_001\"\\"")
<\/div>![\""Aristillus,\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/6_3-ff9aec6.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C462"\" "\\"\"Moon_Aristillus_002\"\\"")
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