Plato crater and the Alpine Valley // Michael Owen
The Vallis Alpes, Latin for Alpine Valley, is the straight line feature to the right of the image. The valley is about 100 miles long and 6 miles across.
Plato crater is named after the famed Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428 - 348 BC), who invented many forms of philosophy that we use today.
A stark landscape. Photograph during the Nov 1969, Apollo 12 moon landing with Pete Conrad. Apollo 12’s ‘Intrepid’ lunar module (reflected in the visor) was nearly identical to ‘The Eagle’ of Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin; one difference being hammocks were installed so the astronauts could rest more comfortably when on the moon.
A close-up of the Tycho Crater, a large impact crater located on the south end of the moon. Captured with the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, this is one of the highest-resolution images of the lunar surface ever taken from Earth.
Petavius imaged on the 9th of December with an 8" reflector at 3000mm. That line on the crater floor is Rimae Petavius I, a rille which is nearly 100 miles long
The Vallis Alpes (left), Eudoxus crater (right), and Aristoteles crater (upper right) // Wilco Kasteleijn
Aristoteles crater is named after the famed Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 - 322 BC). Among his many accomplishments*, he proposed the idea that the planets revolve around the Earth embedded in perfect crystal spheres.
Eudoxus crater is named after the Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390 - 340 BC). Building upon Aristotle's perfect circular orbits, Eudoxus explained the apparent retrograde (i.e., backwards) motion of some planets in the sky by adding additional spheres to each planet's orbit. This was a first step in the right direction.
Vallis Alpes is Latin for "Alpine Valley", since it bisects the Montes Alpes range. This valley extends about 100 miles and is about 6 miles across at its widest point.
Parked by the front door. The Lunar Rover sits by Orion, the Lunar Module during Apollo 16, Apr 1972. The crew of John Young, Charlie Duke & Ken Mattingly experienced many glitches on the way to the moon culminating in concerns in the main engine. Mission Control had considered aborted the entire landing until it was decided the issues could be overcome. Still, as a result of these concerns, the mission ended 1 day earlier than planned.