3towers Observatory Lunar 100/Lunar Features

The Lunar 100 was created by Charles A. Wood who states: "The Lunar 100 list is an attempt to provide Moon lovers with something akin to what deep-sky observers enjoy with the Messier catalog: a selection of telescopic sights to ignite interest and enhance understanding. [It is]... a selection of the Moons 100 most interesting regions, craters, basins, mountains, rilles, and domes."

Woods challenges "...observers to find and observe them all and, more important, to consider what each feature tells us about lunar and Earth history."

To find out more about the Lunar 100 see the Sky & Telescope web site at: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/article_1199_1.asp.

The Lunar 100 features are arranged from the easiest to view to the most difficult. The Moon itself is L1. L2 is Earthshine, and L3 represents the dichotomy between the Lunar highlands and the Lunar Maria. While the Lunar 100 are concentrated all on the nearside of the Moon, they can not be seen in a single night or a single month. Some of them require special lighting conditions or phases of the Moon, and others, in addition, require very favorable librations of the Moon to bring them into view. The Lunar 100 is an observing list. However, the equipment at the 3towers Observatory was used to image the Lunar 100, mainly using the web cam techniques detailed.

Lunar Features|Lunar 100|Moon Halos|Lunar Webcam Imaging|Lunar Eclipses

Lunar Feature	Lunar Age in days (rounded down)	Thumbnail Image	Comments
61. Mosting A	9.3 days		Mosting is the crater in the center of the image.  Mosting A is the crater Southeast of Mosting.  Mosting A is close to the center of the Lunar near side.  It sits on the Western edge of the lava flooded crater Flammarion.  The Flammarion Rille is just North of Mosting A.
61. Mosting A	22.0 days		The most prominent craters are labeled in this image.
62. Rumker Hills	12.33 days
62. Rumker Hills	13 days		Rumker is a large volcanic dome in the center of the image.
63. Imbrium sculptue			Basin ejecta from the Imbrium impact lies near the craters Boscovitch and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is partially visualized on the right edge of the image, and Boscovitch is the dark lava filled region just West of Julius Caesar. The crater in the lower right hand corner is Agrippa, and the crater Northwest of Boscovitch is Manilius. Plinius is the crater in the upper right hand corner.
63. Imbrium sculpture	10 days		Basin ejecta from the Imbrium impact overlies the craters Boscovitch and Julius Caesar, which is in the center of the image.
64. Descartes	8 days		Descartes is the non-descript crater left of center with a smaller partially shadowed crater on its Southern rim. Lighter material is visible just North of Descartes.
64. Descartes	9.3 days		Descartes is the non-descript crater right of center with a smaller partially shadowed crater on its Southern rim. Lighter material is visible just North of Descartes.
65. Hortensius domes	22 days		Hortensius is the small crater below the center of the image. Note the domes North of it. Northeast of Hortensius is Copernicus. The small crater near the center is Milichius. Kepler is the crater near the left edge, and Reinhold is the crater in the lower right hand corner.
66. Hadley Rille	7.6 days
66. Hadley Rille	8.1 days
66. Hadley Rille	8.61 days		Hadley Rille is a lava channel near the Apollo 15 landing site. Hadley is the bright mountain with twin peaks.
66. Hadley Rille	9.3 days
66. Hadley Rille	9.5 days
66. Hadley Rille	9.6 days
66. Hadley Rille	9.95 days
66. Hadley Rille	18 days
67. Fra Mauro formation	9.3 days		Frau Mauro is the large, flat barely recognizable crater in the center.  On its South rim are Parry with a higher rim and Bonpland. Apollo 14 landed on Imbrium ejecta in the hills North of Frau Mauro.
67. Fra Mauro formation	22.0 days
68. Flamsteed P	12 days		Flamsteed P is a proposed young volcanic crater. It is the landing site for Surveyor 1.
69. Copernicus secondary craters	Full Moon (14.7 days)
69. Copernicus secondary craters	22 days		Below center is the crater Pytheas and above center is Lambert. Euler is near the left edge, Timocharis is East of Lambert, and Eratosthenes is at the lower right hand corner.
70. Humboldtianum	6.97 days
70. Humboldtianum basin	8.63 days