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To: MtnClimber; All

The zone on the lower right. is someone savvy enough to know from the light direction if the side that is heavily cratered, is that what would be the leading side of the moon in its orbit around the earth. It would seem logical that it is, being most of the craters are on that side.

What say you??


6 posted on 04/15/2026 1:41:36 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
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To: sit-rep

Looking at photos of phases of the moon it looks like the N/S axis goes from the top-left of the photo to the bottom right. The moon is tidal-locked to the earth so the same side always faces Earth. The greatest velocity is the Earth and Moon orbit around the Sun, so the direction that would tend to have more impacts due to velocity changes as the moon orbits earth. The same side is not always in the direction of motion around the sun. The heavily cratered area is in the southern hemisphere of the moon. It is possible that the gravitational forces cause more tectonic activity around the equator of the Moon which could cause craters to erode more quickly there than at the north or south polar regions.


8 posted on 04/15/2026 2:48:31 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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