Hitchhiker's Guide to Rukl Chart 25

Apollo 17 landing area (...Akkana)

The Apollo 17 landing area before sunrise. The astronauts were never here at this time of day, of course, but if they had been, they would have seen the tips of the peaks around them -- a "string of pearls" as viewed from earth -- starting to shine with the beginnings of sunrise, while the earth shone high overhead in the night sky.

On the edge of the Taurus mountains, the curiously domed hill containing Gardner, between Vitruvius and the ghost crater Maraldi D, stands isolated, like a much larger Rumker on a smooth plain.

Littrow B (David North <d _at_ timocharis.com>)

South of Le Monnier, something caught my eye: a small crater with a white halo had a sort of slight, miniature rille crossing it much the same way Hyginus rille does on a much larger scale. Having no memory of ever having seen it before, I noted the position and kept up my observation.

However, in later chart perusal, I'm not sure I found it. It appears to be exactly where Littrow B (now, I think, called Clerke) sits, but the rille structure on the charts only looks sort of like what I saw, and both maps indicate fairly slight rilles there, rather than the more distinct traces I saw.

This may simply be a case of the light bringing out contrast that is not usually there (much like the little craters in Plato last month); once again, we see these odd Transient Lunar Views that show up from time to time, making the whole moon new all over again...

Taurus Mountains, Romer and Sinus Amoris (Jane Houston <jane _at_ whiteoaks.com>)

The names of the features in this area of the moon are really great! Sinus Amoris, the Bay of Love flanked by the Taurus Mountains was dark and rectangular. The Crater Romer separated the two different geologic structures, smooth bay and rugged mountains, cracked like crazy with faultlines everywhere! I thought of the Apollo 17 crew and how excited they must have been to get to walk through and study this geologic playland up close. I want to go there, too!

Vitruvius B (David North <d _at_ timocharis.com>)

A curious and notable darkness could be seen just south of Vitruvius B; I don't know if this is a cinder deposit or just a trick of the light from the highland to the east and the low sun angle, but it's one of the darkest features visible.