Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Lunar Image Gallery - Mare Imbrium

One of the most impressive sites near the terminator of the 21-day old moon is Mare Imbrium, a large circular formation lying in the northwestern quadrant and whose diameter of 1250 kilometers and area of approximately 830,000 sq meters make it the second largest mare on the moon. It is believed to have been formed between 3.80 and 3.85 billion years ago and is characterized with a very flat and smooth floor with some "wrinkling" on the periphery. Some dominant features of interest include the large crater Plato on the northern rim, the appenine mountain range to the east and the three large craters Aristillus, Autolycus and Archimedes immediately west of the appenines. Careful examination of the floor indicates a differential color pattern between the northern portion and the rest of the area immediately south indicative of differential geological activity.


Image Details
Mare Imbrium - Sea of Rains
Imaging Details
Body:
Moon

Mass:
0.0123 x Earth

Mean Eq Diameter:
0.2719 x Earth

Distance:
403,115 km

Sidereal Rev:
27d 07h 43m 11s

Age:
21d 10h 35m

Phase:
81.2°

Diameter:
29.98'

Magnitude:
-10.4

Rukl:
10
Date:
Sep 18, 2003
03:11:18 UT+3


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
Celestron 14" SCT
Losmandy G-11 GEM
Nikon Coolpix 995
ScopeTronix STWA14 Adapter


Exposures:
1 x 1/8.5 sec @ f2.6
ISO Auto
JPG RGB Fine image format
2048x1536 image size
Autodark subtraction


Software:
Photoshop V6

Processing:
Despeckle
Unsharp Masking
Resampling (30%)
JPG Compression


Copyright © 2001-2005, Anthony Ayiomamitis. All rights reserved.