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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Mare Frigoris
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 8 Oct, 2020 | Image Credit & Copyright: Matt Smith

Posted on 10/08/2020 3:33:03 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Lighter than typically dark, smooth, mare the Mare Frigoris lies in the far lunar north. Also known as the Sea of Cold, it stretches across the familiar lunar nearside in this close up of the waxing gibbous Moon's north polar region. Dark-floored, 95 kilometer wide crater Plato is just left of the center. Sunlit peaks of the lunar Alps (Montes Alpes) are highlighted below and right of Plato, between the more southern Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) and Mare Frigoris. The prominent straight feature cutting through the mountains is the lunar Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes). Joining the Mare Imbrium and Mare Frigoris, the lunar valley is about 160 kilometers long and up to 10 kilometers wide.

(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day
KEYWORDS: asteroid; meteor; moon; nasa; space
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To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.

1 posted on 10/08/2020 3:33:03 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/08/2020 3:33:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; Art in Idaho; AZ .44 MAG; ...

Pinging the APOD list.


3 posted on 10/08/2020 3:34:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

If you look at the center of the photo there is a sign with “Stop At Wall Drug”.


4 posted on 10/08/2020 3:42:52 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: blueunicorn6

You can almost see the Nazi base in the upper left quadrant.


5 posted on 10/08/2020 3:47:12 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: MtnClimber

Thanks for always uploading and pinging.
I always look forward to them.


6 posted on 10/08/2020 3:49:26 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: MtnClimber

Legend has it got the name because it’s so frigoris cold up there.


7 posted on 10/08/2020 4:16:25 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: MtnClimber

Beautiful pic. Thanks for posting it!

Weird how some regions of the Moon look so smooth, while other regions not far away are nothing but pockmarks. Trying to imagine the forces that went into that. Feel so puny on contemplation. :-)


8 posted on 10/08/2020 4:20:38 PM PDT by AFB-XYZ (Option 1 -- stand up. Option 2 -- bend over.)
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To: MtnClimber

9 posted on 10/08/2020 4:48:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin
"Magnificent desolation"

Thankfully it didn't come out differently, e.g. "My god, it's full of dirt!"

10 posted on 10/08/2020 5:17:11 PM PDT by no-s
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To: MtnClimber

Looks like a great place to send Prison Pods.


11 posted on 10/08/2020 5:22:11 PM PDT by Gator113 ( ~~Remember Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian.)
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To: MtnClimber

Very expensive lens.

World’s sharpest Tele lens! Moon, 300x zooming in! 4K, UHD, Leica 2.8/400 mm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCfDMU92JqI


12 posted on 10/08/2020 8:39:46 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: EEGator

Why do Moon craters, especially the larger ones, appear to be ‘flat’ across their diameters?....................


13 posted on 10/09/2020 5:23:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: AFB-XYZ
The backside of the Moon is nothing but craters!................
14 posted on 10/09/2020 5:26:55 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

Someone please explain why all the craters seem so round/rounded. I assume that meteors can impact the Moon from all different angles, so why wouldn’t some craters look oblong?


15 posted on 10/09/2020 6:43:03 AM PDT by Nabber
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To: Nabber

Here is the backside of the Moon we never see. It has many more craters than the 'front'. If you look closely, a few are elongated, and not perfect circles.................

16 posted on 10/09/2020 6:47:19 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

Red: I do see that, thanks, but an awful lot seem very circular. Still puzzles me.


17 posted on 10/09/2020 2:05:06 PM PDT by Nabber
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To: Nabber

Okay, I thought about that some more, and here’s what I come up with:

The Moon is 1/6 the mass of Earth, and therefore it’s gravity pull is 1/6 the pull of Earth.

We are at the bottom of Earth’s ‘Gravity Well’. The Moon is in the Earth’s Gravity Well also, but not at the bottom, 240k+/- miles out.

All these asteroids, meteors and comets were falling, not toward the Moon, but toward the Earth, and the Moon just got in the way.

These objects travel extremely fast, 11 km/sec to 72 km/sec (25,000 mph to 160,000 mph) [had to look that up!].

Unlike the Earth, the Moon has no appreciable atmosphere, mostly vacuum, dust and some small amount of hydrogen.

So, when a meteor is hurtling towards the Earth at fantastic speeds, suddenly it hits the Moon instead and has no atmosphere to deflect it, so it crashes at full speed. The Moon’s gravity is feeble compared to the Earth, so it’s gravity doesn’t much affect the angle at which the meteor is traveling towards Earth. Nor does it have time to do so, since the speed of the object is so enormous.

Just looking at the backside of the Moon, you can see that the Moon is our Guardian, and saved us from destruction many, many times over the eons. Just a few have gotten past the Moon-gate, and they were whoppers.

.............................


18 posted on 10/13/2020 5:24:53 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Nabber

ASTEROID ATTACK: Watch biggest explosion EVER on Moon but 2012 TC4 could be bigger:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/825642/Moon-meteor-biggest-explosion-NASA-video-impact

VIDEO:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2014/feb/24/meteorite-hits-moon-lunar-impact-video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCwzWTea4yE


19 posted on 10/13/2020 5:29:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

Thank you. I think that’s a good answer. But then, I still wrestle with why the Moon always has the same side towards us.

I’ve read the explanation, accept it, but I have trouble reasoning it out in 3-D geometrical logic, for some reason.

I never did well on those H.S. tests where they showed you a complex 3-D object and then asked which one of four other objects represented it when turned upside down and backwards....


20 posted on 10/13/2020 5:31:24 AM PDT by Nabber
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