CLAVIUS AND SURROUNDINGS

Raffaello Lena and Contribution by GLR

By   R. Lena, KC, Pau, G. Mengoli, A. Bares, E. Crandall, G. Di Iorio, F. Acquarone, R. Viegas, B. Shaw and M. Collins
 
 

During an our  project we studied the Clavius  region . It was observed a structure positioned at  53. 066 ° South and     12.297° West.
Below the images:

Giorgio Mengoli (  during an observation made on march, 23 2003 ) and Alessandro Bares  (during an observation made on october 30 2002  at 5:27 UT) detected Clavius and surroundings.
The images were very detailed.
It was  found a  circular structure marked with an arrow,  apparently as a dome.
 
 

Clavius and surroundings . Image by G. Mengoli

Clavius and surroundings . Image by A. Bares
Another  image was taken by E. Crandall on 13 March 2003 at 02:15 UT  with a 254 mm f/7 Newtonian and a 2x barlow coupled with a Starlight Xpress HX 516 CCD camera.
 


 

E. Crandall on 13 March 2003 at 02:15 UT 
Another image was supplied by KC PAU, on 12 march 2003 at 20:27 UT  (below)
 
 

KC PAU, on 12 march 2003 at 20:27 UT
This image shows  the presence of complex details on the feature surface.
 

F. Acquarone, Clavius surroundings

The CLA photos, submitted  by Di Iorio, showed  that the feature has a big slope. It
looks like a hummocky terrain, possibly ejecta from Clavius.

The structure  appears as  hummocky  terrain from  ejecta. The  feature under any earth-based imagery does have the appearance of a lunar dome. Under spacecraft imagery, this is more questionable. It is highly eroded from impacts, has creterlet from impact nature and a irregular shape.

The Lunar Orbiter imagery was also studied. At the links:

http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/pub/research/lunar_orbiter/images/img/iv_131_h1.jpg

http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/pub/research/lunar_orbiter/images/img/iv_118_h3.jpg

http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/pub/research/lunar_orbiter/images/img/iv_124_h1.jpg
 
 

Coupled with the presence of many hummocky units around this feature (in the LO imagery), this suggests that the feature is part of a larger hummocky unit from  ejecta .
 As in many cases  a earth-based imagery may look like a dome, but
that spacecraft imagery is necessary to confirm it.
So we  feel it is not a dome.
 
 

A CLA image.