Hitchhiker's Guide to Rukl Chart 58

Fracastorius (JRF <freeman _at_ netcom.com>)

Large incomplete walled plain that merges with Mare Nectaris to the north. Fracastorius is a "landmark" feature, easily recognized and useful for orientation.

Fracastorius (David North <north _at_ znet.com>)

Hyperfocused in excellent seeing through the 12.5 inch, it showed the "lightning bolt" rille very nicely, and several tiny craters with sharply defined rims. Also, a number of small hills added saltgrain texture at the north face, with even maybe a tiny central peak (at least what looked like little mountains near the center). The mangled south rim was a wealth of textures.

It's interesting to note that many of the valley structures (such as Vallis Rheita and Vallis Snellius) as well as many of the crater chains seem to focus on the Fracastorius area of Mare Nectaris. At a guess, one or the other (most likely the Nectaris impact, which seems to have also created the Altai Scarp) practically cracked the face of a quarter of the moon. Amazing.

How'd you like to see one of those impacts now? Woo.

Fracastorius and Piccolomini (...Akkana)

Piccolomini is prominent both at sunrise and sunset. It has a large central peak complex divided into two main mountains; the eastern mountain can be further split into two smaller peaks. Just NW is an arc of three smaller craters of identical size (plus several more of assorted sizes) with overlay each other neatly like the bead on a weld. Here's another sketch of the area in slightly different lighting.

Fracastorius (Matt Tarlach <tarlach _at_ earthlink.net>)

A beautiful view of sunrise on Fracastorius last night. It was the first thing I noticed as I scanned the terminator at about 2115 PDT, and only the rim, central peak, and a small area of the central floor were illuminated. I went back to it about 15 minutes later, and light had spilled almost to the northern edge of the crater's flooded floor. As I watched, the illuminated area continued to grow steadily until it merged with Mare Nectaris. I am not a very experience moon-watcher, but I think that the lunar sunrise was more noticeable here, in real time, than over any other feature that I have viewed. Watch for it!

Dorsa Beaumont (...Akkana)

A very prominent ridge extends outward from Beaumont, near Fracastorius, which is clearly shown in Rukl's drawing but is not given a name. I will take the liberty of calling it Dorsa Beaumont. It's particularly prominent right at sunrise, as shown on the sketch on chart 46.