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Old 14-11-2013, 07:40 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
A fractured Moon: Rimae Hippalus

Thank you Jen and Laurie for your kind words, .

There were a few excellent sketching candidates last night. Yet it was this amazing rile complex that ultimately did it for me. Ever since I saw my first rile as a little boy through my 2” Tasco, I’ve always had a soft spot for these.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen such a collection of riles. This system all seem to be co-centric – they probably are, and possibly came about as a result of the cooling of the ancient lava fields they sit in.

On first inspection, only three, short, co-centric arcs are immediately visible. As time progresses with the sketch, these same arcs can be seen to extend much, much further, and shorter riles also become visible. All these riles seem to develop their own menacing and rampant charcter, crashing through mountains, slicing through craters, and gouging their path through the plains of lava – nothing seems to stop them.

Much of the appeal of this rile system comes from the surrounding lunarscape. The plains, the mountain ranges, the terraced large craters, and the barely observable ‘craterlets’ – all of these are integral to making the rile network so striking.

This is a great system of riles to chase down. Their number and co-centric nature will make this rile system readily visible to novice’s eyes.

“A fractured Moon”
Object: Rimae Hippalus
Scope: C8, 8” SCT
Gear: 8mm LVW, 250X
Location: Sydney, Australia
Date: 13th November, 2013
Media: White and grey soft pastel, charcoal and white ink on A5 size black paper
Duration: 1.5hrs
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