The week of April 28-May 4 takes us from New Moon to Day 7. This week we will highlight Rima Ariadaeus, visible on Sunday night.
Rima Ariadaeus: [Repeated from Day 6–NE/J11; L=14°E] The best place to see rilles on the Moon is in the area just west of Tranquility. Here you will find a remarkably varied collection–to wit, Ariadaeus, Hyginus (two of the best-known rilles on the Moon) and Triesnecker. Rima Ariadaeus started to come into view last night. All three should be visible tonight.
When the terminator is close, Rima Ariadaeus is an enjoyable target even for small telescopes. It is a classic example of a graben, an elongated depression between two parallel fault lines where the ground in between has fallen away1. If you have at least a 4″ telescope with good optics and steady seeing you will just be able to make out that the fault lines have pulled apart and the ground in between has sunk. (This is a challenge; Ariadaeus is a shade over two arc-seconds wide.) The rille appears to be broken in a few places, indicating that the lunar terrain has shifted since it was created, and there is a shunt on its western end connecting it to Rima Hyginus.
OF ADDITIONAL INTEREST IN SPACE
On Tues., the Pleiades are 0.5° south of the Moon.
On Wed., Jupiter is 5.4° south of the Moon.
On Sat., Mars is 2.1° south of the Moon.
1 There is an astonishing Apollo 10 photo of the Ariadaeus rille at www.skyimage.com. Click on Search, type in “Ariadaeus,” then click on the image twice to enlarge it.
======================
It is highly recommended that you get a copy of Sky and Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon, the very finest Moon map available for use at the telescope. It is available for $10.95 at www.skyandtelescope.com and on Amazon. All features mentioned in this blog will be keyed to the grid on the Field Map and will look like this: Plato: [NW/D9]
Credits:
Courtesy of Gray Photography of Corpus Christi, Texas
Lunar photos: NASA / USGS / BMDO / LROC / ASU / DLR / LOLA / Moon Globe. Used by permission
- Moon Craters Aristillus and Autolycus - May 12, 2025
- Tycho – One of the Moon’s Showpieces - May 5, 2025
- A Graben on the Moon: Rima Ariadaeus - April 28, 2025