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Lunar Graveyard Optical Illusion image

Lunar Graveyard Optical Illusion

Contains: Solar system body or event
Acquisition Details
  • Number of frames:   1
  • FPS:
  • Focal length:   3200
  • CMI/CMII/CMIII:
Description

Similar to the Lunar X feature that appears when oblique sunlight illuminates the tops of lunar terrain, here is an interesting feature I've never seen pointed out before. Not far from the 58 mile wide crater Copernicus lies an area of terrain with features that appear to differ from the rest of the ragged rocks that scatter the surface. With light dancing just right on this image, it appears there is a graveyard site of some giant creature, rib cage and all, scattered from some sort of cataclysmic event. Fanciful minds might imagine some great impactor blasting an ancient dinosaur's fragments to the moon at a time similar to the impact that created Copernicus. Only problem with this imagination is that this dinosaur would be miles tall, some ancient god of old ruling the world and its close neighbor. OK, enough dreaming for now. Perhaps someone else can capture this same area under similar illumination and we can officially give it a name for the optical illusion that it is. Close to Halloween, I like "Lunar Graveyard", except there is a real graveyard on the far side of the moon where we've been crashing space probes, so maybe that one is already taken. Ideas?

  • User details
  • Ron Masters
  • Ron Masters
  • November 8, 2015