PLATE l: A 70km diameter body is
travelling at about 20 km/s and is about to hit the Moon
PLATE 2: This is where the body hits the Moon. A resulting shock
wave causes very high speed fragments and vapour.
PLATE 3: Here, the projectile is consumed. The shock wave continues
its propagation and there are signs of initial crater formation.
PLATE 4: Excavation of the basin occurs here.
PLATE 5 : Here, the basin is at its maximum growth.
PLATE 6: In response to material leaving the Moon's surface, the
floor of the cavity rapidly rebounds. The ejecta curtain is followed by
a ground surge of secondary crater ejecta.
PLATE 7: The basin floor shows it's maximum amount of rebound,
possibly in excess of the original targets curvature.
Material continues
to be deposited from the ejecta curtain, though now at greater
distances.
PLATE 8: Finally, the major interior and
exterior rings have been formed. The sheet of impact melt is nearly
completely molten, and lines the basin floor.
Bessel, 16 kilometers in diameter, is transitional between simple and
complex craters.
It has a flatter, shallower
floor.
Euler, 28 kilometers in diameter, is a good example of complex
crater morphology. It has a flattened floor and a small central peak.
King Crater on the Moon's far side is 77 kilometers in diameter and
over 3 kilometers deep.
The central peak is much larger at King Crater than at
other lunar craters of similar size, such as Copernicus
or Tycho.
The crater Copernicus, the most impressive crater on the western half of the
Moon. Not the biggest, but still an impressive 88 km in diameter.
Schrodinger is 320 kilometers in diameter, large enough to be considered
an impact basin rather than a crater.
In addition to the main, outer rim, it also has an inner ring that
is 150 kilometers in diameter and about 75% complete.
Schrodinger is one of the youngest, freshest impact basins on the Moon.