A Close-Up View of the Aristarchus Crater

 A Close-Up View of the Aristarchus Crater

The Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys snapped this close-up view of the Aristarchus crater on Aug. 21, 2005. The crater is 26 miles (42 kilometers) in diameter and approximately 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) in depth, and sits at the southeastern edge of the Aristarchus Plateau. Aristarchus is one of the youngest and largest craters on the Moon. The crater formed between 100 and 900 million years ago.

Credits

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Garvin (NASA/GSFC)

About The Object
Object Name Moon
Object Description Earth's Satellite
Distance The Moon is 238,857 miles (384,403 kilometers) from the Earth.
Dimensions The Moon has a diameter of 2160 miles (3476 kilometers).
About The Data
Data Description These HST data are from proposal . NASA's HST Lunar observation team is led by Chief Scientist J. Garvin. The team includes M. Robinson (Northwestern Univ.), D. Skillman (NASA/GSFC), B. Hapke (Univ. of Pittsburgh), C. Pieters (Brown Univ.), M. Ulmer (Northwestern Univ.), J. Bell (Cornell Univ.), and J. Taylor (Univ. of Hawaii).
Instrument HST>ACS/HRC
Exposure Dates August 21, 2005
About The Object
Object Name A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.