Hitchhiker's Guide to Rukl Chart 64

Tycho (JRF <freeman _at_ netcom.com>)
This gee-whiz crater is a "landmark" feature, easily recognized and useful for orientation. Tycho has a rough floor and walls, a prominent central peak, and an enormous ray system, prominent at full Moon.
Tycho (...Akkana)
[Tycho at sunrise] At sunrise, it's fun to watch the shadow of Tycho's central peak (left).

Tycho can be hard to find when it's near the terminator and the rays aren't visible. Use nearby and unmistakable Clavius to find it; see James Ferreira's video capture to see the relationship.

There is also an ALPO Selected Areas Program page on Tycho.

Tycho on the dark side of the moon (Randy Muller <71172.1234 _at_ compuserve.com>)
4/30/98 (crescent moon): Tycho was harder [than Copernicus] to spot, but its rays were very bright, especially the one that extends into Mare Nubium, ending south of Bullialdus.
Wilhelm (Steve Coe <scoeandlross _at_ sprintmail.com>)
About the same size as Tycho, a nice crater with no central peak. The floor is very stipled with lots of tiny craters, I counted 32 using 150X in the 10 inch Newtonian. There is a hint of a rille in PA 220 degrees. The walls are smooth with no terracing. There are alternating light and dark stripes on the floor of this crater, going from east to west. I assume they are material thrown out by the "Tycho event".
Montanari (Steve Coe <scoeandlross _at_ sprintmail.com>)
A crater on the north wall of Wilhelm. It is a fresh crater with steep walls. I can see where the Montanari impact knocked material off the wall of Wilhelm and it landed on the floor of Wilhelm.
The Un-Dome near Heinsius/Wilhelm (David North <d _at_ timocharis.com>)
To the west of Heinsius and north of Wilhem (Rukl 64), I spotted what looked like a dome in the most unlikely place -- the highlands. Some nearby blobs (leading in the direction of Lacus Timoris) make me suspect this is just a pile of crud thrown from the direction of Mare Humorum or some such, but the rounded formation of the feature, combined with a nicely placed craterlet or two, give it quite the domelike appearance. Charts are inconclusive with no name or acknowledgement of the feature, but the Times Atlas shows it as having a catena on top as well! I didn't eke that out of the view, though.
Heinsius N Rays (Jane Houston <houston1 _at_ ix.netcom.com>)
[While watching the beginnings of the Hesiodus Ray on 9/18/99 at about 9:50pm] I took a glance at some nearby craters in the same field of view as Hesiodus, but a little to the south. What do you think I saw? Two more rays were making an appearance! I rushed to my Rukl to see what the crater was called. The crater is unnamed, but if you look on Rukl 64, you'll see what I mean. My twin rays were in the teartrop shaped feature to the the south and between Craters Wurzelbauer and Gauricus. Between 36 and 38 S and 16 and 14 W. The two slivers of light made a nice companion to Hesiodus to the north. As the hours passed, my twin slivers widened and became chunky triangles much like the Hesiodus Ray nearby. Later still, they merged into a "W" or "M" shaped feature, a beautiful contrast to the dark of the crater floor.

Akkana's note: we later learned from the Times Atlas that the potato-shaped crater is called Heinsius N.

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This page last modified: Dec 31, 1969
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