Montes Alpes
Location: ·
The lunar Alps — thrown up in minutes by the giant impact that excavated the Imbrium basin.
Type
Mountain range
Diameter
334 km
Position
48.4°N 0.6°W
Name approved
1935
The Alpes are part of the Imbrium basin rim, crust lifted and overturned by the impact rather than folded up the way a terrestrial range is. Nothing on the Moon builds mountains by plate motion; every major lunar range is the rim of a basin.
Mont Blanc is the highest peak at about 3.6 km. Vallis Alpes cuts the range cleanly in two, and the range straddles the prime meridian, so it lies on the terminator at both first and last quarter.
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise and sunset on Montes Alpes
| 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.
Further info
Official record from the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Montes Alpes
Wikipedia: Montes Alpes