presents KING Farside Directory - Ridge Section 115

5.0_N_120.5_E
King is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It forms a pair with Ibn Firnas, which is only slightly larger and is attached to the northeast rim of King. To the northwest are craters in another section (104) but the crater Lobachevsky and Guyot, located an equal distance to the north-northwest. The outer rim of King is roughly circular but with a slightly irregular appearance, particularly at the northern end. The crater displays little appearance of wear. The inner walls are terraced, particularly along the eastern side. Within the walls is a somewhat uneven interior floor. The interior is irregular and ridged, particularly in the eastern half. The elongated, Y-shaped central rise is part of a ridge that runs to the southern rim. A tiny crater near the east-southeastern inner wall has been officially given the Indian feminine name Sita by the IAU. Not really visible in the extreme SW part of the section (but important) is Hirayama, a large crater that is located just beyond the eastern limb. This region of the surface is sometimes brought into view from Earth during periods of favorable libration. However it is best viewed from orbit. This crater is located along the southeastern edge of the Mare Smythii to the northeast of the crater Brunner. To the northeast of Hirayama is Wyld. This is a worn and eroded crater with multiple impacts overlapping the outer rim and the interior floor. The image (*) that instigated the search for information on this section was taken by the advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, and shows a highly eroded highland area on the lunar far side, close to the equator. AMIE obtained this image on 1 January 2006, from a distance of 1483 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution of 134 metres per pixel. The imaged area is centred at a latitude of 4.2º South and longitude 98.4º East. (Credit: Some of the information used in the section feature descriptions was obtained from wikipedia.com. Section 115 and this directory was created by Fran Ridge and Ned Haskin of The Lunascan Project).

USEFUL TOOLS: Lunar Farside Chart [300 dpi] (NASA/LPI) Farside Image Composite [1600 dpi] (NASA/LRO) Farside-contour-map-gray2800.jpg lunascan.com/lunascan/LAC_maps.htm (Bob Garfinkle) * planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Moon1to1MAtlas CRATERS Ibn Firnas, 89 km King, 76 km Sita, 2 km Ganskiy, 43 km Hyrayama, 132 km Purkyne, 48 km Wyld, 93 km GOOGLE IMAGES: Images of King LUNAR ORBITER IMAGES: Lunar & Planetary Institute: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/ (Atlas) http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunarorbiter/ (Photo Gallery) lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/srch_nam.shtml?king%7C0 lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/srch_nam.shtml?purkyne%7C0 lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/srch_nam.shtml?wyld%7C0 APOLLO IMAGES: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/ (Apollo Image Atlas) http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollopanoramas/ (Apollo Surface Panoramas) lpi.usra.edu/resources/stereo_atlas/HTDOCS/LKIN.HTM (Apollo stereo view of King) lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/search/feature/?feature=king&sort= lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/search/feature/?feature=ganskiy&sort= lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/search/feature/?feature=purkyne&sort= lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/search/feature/?feature=wyld&sort= CLEMENTINE IMAGES: No matches. LUNAR RECONNAISANCE ORBITER IMAGES: http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/ http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/ lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/171-King-Craters-Unusual-Melt-Pond.html nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/lroc-20110504-king.html (King Crater ejecta deposits) Ancient_and_eroded_lunar_far_side_medium.jpg (*) YOU TUBE FLYOVERS: lpi.usra.edu/lunar/lunar_flyovers/king_crater/KingCrater_HiRes.mov (King) youtube.com/watch?v=2elAqfiNnoo (King flyover, Kaguya) RESEARCH UPDATES: lpi.usra.edu/search (for King) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirayama_%28crater%29 (Hyrayama Crater) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkyn%C4%9B_%28crater%29 (Purkyne Crater) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyld_%28crater%29 (Wyld Crater) ESA SMART-/Landscapes_from_the_ancient_and_eroded_lunar_far_side * Far Side Directory The Lunascan Project Home Page