I have been told by the lunar experts that the dark craters in Alphonsus are actually cinder fountains when volcanic activity was taking place. These fountains would spray into the sky and settle down as a fine powder and darken the ground around the pit. The reason all the small craters do not exhibit the dark halo is they are impact formations. The peak has always been of extreme interest to lunar astronomers ever since the night of November 3,1958 when D.R. Kozyrev captured a spectrum of an apparent out gassing. You can find the original article on this observation in Sky & Telescope February 1958 page 184. There is also an interesting article in an old magazine I had found called Modern Astronomy. There were no dates on the page so I have no idea when it was published and if the Modern Astronomy magazine still exist. The article does state that Kozyrev observations was about a decade ago. In this article they show a drawing they claim was drawn by Kozyrev which I have as an attachment. The cracks and rills on the floor probably due to tectonic pressure that were taking place at one time in it history. Volcanic activity on the Moon appears to be very apparent when one looks at the Cobra Head and Schroter Valley. This valley was believed to be caused by ash flows coming out of the volcanic opening now known as the Cobra Head. When one looks at the history of L. T. P. for this crater it is very active. The total number of events reported in L. T. P. catalog is 46 with the break down of 19 brightening, 9 darkening, 17 gaseous, 27 Reddish, and 2 bluish. So more is going on in this crater than just that one event by the Kozyrev. You can learn more about L. T. P. sites and types by checking out my web site at: http://www.ltpresearch.org/ . You then click on L. T. P. Manual and then Chapter 4.
David O. Darling
A. L. P. O. & A. L. S. Lunar Transient Phenomena Recorder
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE LUNASCAN PROJECT (TLP): An Earth-Based Telescopic Imaging (EBTI)
program using live and recorded CCD technology to document and record
Lunar Transient Phenomena (LTPs).
The Lunascan Project HomePage
http://www.evansville.net/~slk/lshomepage.html
The Project's Mission Statement :
http://www.evansville.net/~slk/miss.html
