The week of October 26 – November 1st takes us from Lunar Day 10 to Day 16. This week we will highlight the crater Philolaus, viewable on Tuesday evening (Day 11).
Philolaus is a lunar impact crater that is located in the northern part of the Moon’s near side. It has a very rugged interior with two prominent mountain peaks. It lies within one crater diameter to the east-southeast of the flooded crater Anaximenes, and to the west of the smaller Anaxagoras. It overlies the older and heavily worn Philolaus C to the south.
Diameter: 43 mi.
Depth: 2 mi.
OF ADDITIONAL INTEREST IN SPACE:
October 31st is a “Blue Moon” (the second full moon in a month). Blue Moons happen about once every two or three years, hence the phrase “Once in a blue moon” means a comparatively rare event.
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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
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