September 13, 2013

Prior to a qualitative analysis and inventory of the data from Session 20130913 this image was randomly selected. It was imaged by Camera 4 which is the SSI camera and recorded on DVR2. This imame was selected quickly due to interest stirred by the live imaging and notes taken concerning a serpentine ridge on the lunar surface highlighted by the low sun angle near the terminator. The bright lighted object to the left of the ridge was almost certainly a mountain peak catching the rising sun. The dimmer object to the right of the ridge was either a hill on the ridge or a crater tilted to the east on the side of the wrinkle ridge, itself. Keep in mind that this may not be the best image of these features taken during this mission, but good enough to begin some research to identify these mountains.

The first place to check to identify these mountains was the Rukl Atlas. The area of the image covers Sections 20,21,42, and 43. However the area of the brightest target in question is in section 20.  (See below). The vertical line on the right separates 20 and 21.

Rukl Section 19 (left), 20 (center), 21 (right)

The large crater, Lambert shown in the upper right above, is unlit in our image at the top of this report and not observable, but the "mountain" is clearly shown. Or was it a mountain or a crater? And what was its name?

The only thing noticeable was the title,Dorsa Stille, so I looked that up, and here's what I found:

The large deeply-shadowed crater on the left margin is Lambert, which we already knew. But Dorsa Stille extends at least from "B" to "C" in this Apollo 15 Metric Camera view, from "A" to "B". It probably includes the whole "A"-"B" and "C"-"D" ridges. The thin east-west ridge visible in the upper right (just below the top margin) is the western part of Dorsum Higazy, although exactly where that dorsum name is regarded as ending is also unclear. On LTO-40B4, the peak in the center of this view was given the provisional name MONS UNDEST, a name which was not adopted by the IAU, and is therefore invalid.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LAC/lac40/150dpi.jpg

Click on the link above, then click on the center to enlarge.

So it is a peak and un-named. For all practical purposes we'll still (no pun intended) refer to this feature as "Mons Undest" The other dimmer feature we'll confront next. But before we do let's take a look a Lunar Orbiter image of the area.

Notice the object in the upper right. Surprisingly, if this is all we had, I would have been  inclined to call this feature a a v-shaped crater, except that the sun angle is wrong and the optical illusion one gets is quickly dashed, as the sun is coming from the rising sun in the east, just like what we were imaging, and this is indeed a small mountain.

Here, then, is the  ZOOMABLE unredated version of Apollo Metric Camera image AS15-M-1152, which also shows mountain #2:

This leaves us with a strong desire to know the name and details of the size of this feature, which eludes us at this point, as not even LAC (LRO) Wide Angle Camera shot 40 titles it. The first link is our hosted image, and the second link is the original pdf file that can be enlarged to amazing clarity.

http://www.lunascan.com/lunascan/sessions/20130913/lac_40_wac.jpg

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_40_wac.pdf