Aristarchus
Location: ·
The brightest large feature on the Moon — so luminous it even shows in earthshine.
Aristarchus is about 175 million years old and 3.7 km deep. It cut through the Aristarchus plateau, which is mantled by the largest pyroclastic deposit on the Moon, and threw out material from beneath it. The ejecta therefore mixes dark volcanic ash with fresh, unweathered rock, and the spectrum varies sharply from one part of the ejecta blanket to the next.
The brightness is a consequence of the age: the surface has had too little time to be darkened by space weathering. Albedo across the crater reaches roughly double the lunar average.
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise and sunset on Aristarchus
| Event | Time | Lit |
|---|---|---|
| Computing… | ||
- Sunrise / Sunset: at the feature's centre (IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature).
- Lit: the illuminated fraction of the Moon's disc at that moment.
Named after
Aristarchus of Samos, Greek astronomer (c. 310–230 BC).
Further info
Official record from the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Aristarchus
Wikipedia: Aristarchus (crater)