阿方索与阿尔扎赫尔环形山

2021年7月16日

Alphonsus and Arzachel
Image Credit & Copyright: Noel Donnard

Explanation: Point your telescope at tonight’s first quarter Moon. Along the terminator, the shadow line between night and day, you might find these two large craters staring back at you with an owlish gaze. Alphonsus (left) and Arzachel are ancient impact craters on the north eastern shores of Mare Nubium, the lunar Sea of Clouds. The larger Alphonsus is over 100 kilometers in diameter. A low sun angle highlights the crater’s sharp 1.5 kilometer high central peak in bright sunlight and dark shadow. Scouting for potential Apollo moon landing sites, the Ranger 9 spacecraft returned closeup photographs of Alphonsus before it crashed in the crater just northeast (left) of its central mountain in 1965. Alpetragius, between Alphonsus and Arzachel, is the small crater with the deeply shadowed floor and overly large central peak.

Tomorrow’s picture: 2.5 million light-years away

阿方索与阿尔扎赫尔环形山
影像提供与版权: Noel Donnard

说明: 今晚请把望远镜指向上弦月。在分隔白昼与黑夜的明暗分界线上，你或许可见到这二个大环形山，以猫头鹰之姿瞪着你。左侧的阿方索环形山和右侧的阿尔扎赫尔环形山，二者都是月面云海东北沿的古老撞击坑。直径超过100公里、较大的阿方索环形山，1.5公里高的尖耸中心峰，沐浴在明亮的阳光里，并曳出长长的暗影。 1965年在寻找适合的阿波罗计画着陆点之时，游骑兵9号太空船回传了数张特写影像之后，然后坠毁于这个撞击坑中心峰的东北隅（左）。阿方索与阿尔扎赫尔环形山之间，拥有深深坑底和相对庞大中心峰的小撞击坑，则是阿尔佩特拉吉斯环形山。 （Alphonsus 阿方索； Arzachel 阿尔扎赫尔； Alpetragius 阿尔佩特拉吉斯）

明日的图片: 2.5 million light-years away