Hitchhiker's Guide to Rukl Chart 73

Heraclitus (...Akkana)

Described in Rukl as a "ruined crater with central mountain range", Heraclitus is a strange rectangular structure stretching between two large craters (Licetus and Heraclitus D). It appears as though huge twin boulders had slid from one crater to the other, creating twin furrows, each wider than most normal craters. It's hard to imagine what natural process actually caused the strange appearance of this crater. It looks like a gigantic beetle.

Maginus (...Akkana)

Maginus is a useful landmark when trying to locate Clavius just before sunrise hits it. Go from Heraclitus due west to find Maginus, a large shallow crater with several smaller craters in its walls, including a prominent double crater in the northwest wall. Clavius is the next large crater southwest of Maginus.

Maginus Ray (Bill Arnett)

Aug 26 2001 20:40 PDT: It looks like there's a sunrise ray in Maginus right now.

Maginus Ray (David North <d _at_ timocharis.com>)

Aug 26 2001 22:42 PDT: Unbelievable bad seeing now, but the ray looks like a perfect wedge.

Moretus (...Akkana)

Moretus has a prominent central peak; it's easily mistaken for Tycho if you catch it before Tycho is lit. It's fun to watch the shadow of the peak grow when Moretus is right on the terminator.

Zach (Randy Muller <71172.1234 _at_ compuserve.com>)

Still moving south, the unusually colored crater Zach lay east of Clavius. There is an odd region of dark material in the NE corner. I am fairly certain this was not a shadow, but I expect to look at it again Sunday night. This dark feature, of which there's no hint at all in Rukl, abutted the NE interior wall. In the SE area of the crater, there was another, smaller, lighter colored dark spot, which was oval in shape, and stood out from the wall.

This caught my attention because the terrain in this area seems to be fairly uniformed light colored highland material. The presence of dark material made a strong contrast with the rest of the terrain.