ISRO releases fresh set of photos of moon craters

26 August,2019 08:45 PM IST |   |  mid-day online correspondent

The Indian Space Research Organisation also released pictures showing impact craters such as Sommerfeld and Kirkwood

The moon as viewed by Terrain Mapping Camera Chandrayaan-2.Pic/Twitter IANS


On Monday, the Indian Space Research Organisation released a fresh set of photographs of the surface of the moon and its craters taken by the Terrain Mapping Camera-2 of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft. According to ISRO, the pictures were taken on August 23 at an altitude of about 4,375 kms showing impact craters like Jackson, Mitra, Mach, and Korolev reports news agency IANS.

ISRO said that Jackson is an impact crater located in the northern hemisphere of the far side of the Moon. The crater's diameter is about 71 kms. The interesting feature at the western outer rim of the Mach crater is another impact crater named Mitra (92 kms in diameter), says ISRO.

"It is named after Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra, who was an Indian physicist and Padma Bhushan recipient known for his pioneering work in the field of ionosphere and radiophysics," ISRO said.

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The Korolev crater which is seen in the image is a 437-km wide crater which has several small craters of varying sizes. The Indian Space Research Organisation also released pictures showing impact craters such as Sommerfeld and Kirkwood. While Sommerfeld is a large impact crater located in the farside northern latitudes of the Moon and is a 169 kms in diameter.

The Sommerfield crater has a relatively flat interior surrounded by a ring mountain and a number of smaller craters which lie along the rim edge. The crater is named after Dr. Arnold Sommerfeld, who was a pioneering German physicist in the field of atomic and quantum physics.

On the Northeast of this crater lies the Kirkwood crater which is named after American astronomer Daniel Kirkwood. A well-formed impact crater, it approximately 68 kms in diameter, according to ISRO.

Another picture which the ISRO released is that of the impact craters Plaskett (109 kms wide), Rozhdestvenskiy (177 kms wide) and Hermite (104 kms wide, one of the coldest spots in the solar system).

Also Read: Narendra Modi hails ISRO for successful entry of Chandrayaan-2 into lunar orbit

With inputs from IANS

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