4.5 Article

Dark halos and rays of young lunar craters: A new insight into interpretation

Journal

ICARUS
Volume 231, Issue -, Pages 22-33

Publisher

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2013.11.025

Keywords

Image processing; Impact processes; Moon, surface; Photometry; Regolith

Funding

  1. NASA [NNX11AB25G]
  2. NASA [NNX11AB25G, 149882] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER

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Images acquired by the Narrow Angle Camera of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter allow phase-ratio imagery of young lunar craters surrounded by dark halos. Such imaging is a new optical remote-sensing technique that is sensitive to the degree of surface roughness. We apply the phase-ratio technique to LRO images of young dark-halo craters near the crater Denning and in the Balmer basin, in addition to craters created by the impacts of the Ranger-6 spacecraft and Saturn-5 sections of Apollo-13 and Apollo-17. We suggest an alternative explanation of the dark halos and rays seen near the craters at large phase angles. Phase-ratio imaging suggests that these features result from higher surface roughness. Thus, the interpretation of dark crater halos and rays as a composition/maturity variance should be used with caution. The composition and structure factors can be effectively discriminated only using images acquired in a wide range of phase angles including small angles. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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