Hi all,
Here is a pic of Lacus Mortis or the Lake of Death, found in the northeast of the lunar near side.
L. Mortis was originally named by Riccioli on his map of 1651. It is a 150km depression lying between Mare Frigoris to the north and Lacus Somniorum to the south.
Sitting in the middle of the lake is 39km crater Burg, named for Austrian astronomer Johann Burg (1766-1834 or 5) who did good works on lunar calculations.
Of great interest to "
Lunar X Prize" followers, is the Lacus Mortis Pit. LRO pictures have shown a small crater near one of the rilles that appears to have a cave entrance at its base. The Astrobotic Technology and HAKUTO teams are working towards landing a rover near here and entering the cave to determine its suitability for storage of equipment and as a shelter for long - term human inhabitants from the extreme temperatures and radiation and micrometeorites on the surface.
The ruined crater, Baily resides 60km north of Lacus Mortis. This wonderfully rugged former crater - now - ruined - pile is named in honour of English Astronomer Francis Baily (1774-1844), he of the "
Baily's Beads" phenomenon seen in eclipses and remembered also as the biographer of the legendary Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed and reducer of many star catalogues.
Finally, up to the north eastern extreme of the picture is the 33km crater, Keldysh named in honour of the Soviet era mathematician and rocket scientist, Mstislav Keldysh who was an all - round brilliant guy and one of the founders of the Soviet space program.
Picture details: Celestron C11 with DMK41AU02 camera at 30FPS. 2100 frames stacked and sharpened in Registax and further processed with Astra Image.
Richard.
