Arzachel
Location: ·
The youngest and sharpest of the central meridian trio, with a central peak rising 1.5 km.
Arzachel is the youngest of the Ptolemaeus-Alphonsus-Arzachel chain and the only one that still looks like a fresh crater: terraced walls, a central peak 1.5 km high, and a rille on the floor. Ptolemaeus at the north end is the most degraded, its rim reduced to low ridges and its floor smoothed by plains deposits; Alphonsus falls in between.
The three are adjacent, similar in size, and separated only in age, which makes the sequence a compact demonstration of how a crater decays.
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise and sunset on Arzachel
| 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
Al-Zarqālī, latinised Arzachel, Andalusian astronomer (died 1100).
Further info
Official record from the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Arzachel
Wikipedia: Arzachel (crater)