Crater characteristics
Tycho crater. NASA photo.
Coordinates	43.3° S 11.2° W
Diameter	85 km
Depth	4.8 km
Colongitude	12° at sunrise
Eponym	Tycho Brahe

Tycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands. To the south is Street crater; to the east Pictet, and to the north-northeast is Sasserides crater. The surface around Tycho is replete with craters of various differing radii, many overlapping still older craters. Some of the smaller craters are secondary craters formed from larger chunks of ejecta from Tycho. Description: The prominent Tycho crater on the Moon. ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Selenographic coordinates are used to refer to locations on the surface of Earths moon. ... For the geometric term, see diameter. ... The depth of any crater in a solid planet or moon - whether it is an impact crater, a volcanic crater, or a subsidence crater - may be measured from the local surface to the bottom of the crater, or from the rim of the crater to the bottom. ... Selenographic coordinates are coordinates that refer to locations on the surface of the Moon. ... An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, whose name has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery, or other item. ... Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe (December 14, 1546 – October 24, 1601), was a Danish nobleman astronomer as well as an astrologer and alchemist. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... Tycho crater on Earths moon. ... Street is a lunar impact crater located just to the south of the prominent Tycho crater. ... Pictet is a lunar impact crater locted just to the east of the larger and more prominent Tycho crater. ... Sasserides is the remains of a lunar crater in the southern part of the Moon. ...

Tycho is a relatively young crater, with an estimated age of 108 million years, as estimated from samples of the crater rays recovered during the Apollo 17 mission. The crater is sharply defined and free of the wear that affects older craters. The interior has a high albedo that is prominent when the sun is overhead, and the crater is surrounded by a distinctive ray system forming long spokes that reach as long as 1,500 kilometers. Sections of these rays can be observed even when Tycho is only illuminated by earthlight. Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program, and was the sixth and last mission to date to land on the Moon. ... The albedo is a measure of reflectivity of a surface or body. ... Crater ray system on the far side of the Moon. ... A kilometer (Commonwealth spelling: kilometre), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1,000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ...

The large ray system centered on Tycho

The ramparts beyond the rim have a lower albedo than the interior for a distance of over a hundred kilometers, and are free of the ray markings that lie beyond. This darker rim may have been formed from minerals excavated during the impact. Download high resolution version (2048x1360, 1573 KB)Tycho crater on the Moon. ... Download high resolution version (2048x1360, 1573 KB)Tycho crater on the Moon. ... Crater ray system on the far side of the Moon. ... Ramparts is a radical squatted social centre in the Whitechapel area of East London. ...

Its inner wall is slumped and terraced, sloping down to a rough but nearly flat floor exhibiting small, knobby domes. The floor displays signs of past volcanism, most likely from rock melt caused by the impact. Detailed photographs of the floor show that it is covered in a cross-crossing array of cracks and small hills. The central peaks rise 1.6 kilometers above the floor, and a lesser peak stands just to the northeast of the primary massif. A camera. ... In geology, a massif is a section of the Earths crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. ...

Infrared observations of the lunar surface during an eclipse have demonstrated that Tycho cools at a slower rate than other parts of the surface, making the crater a "hot spot". This effect is caused by the difference in materials that cover the crater.

Panoramic view of Tycho taken by Surveyor 7

The rim of this crater was chosen as the target of the Surveyor 7 mission. The robotic spacecraft safely touched down north of the crater in January, 1968. The craft performed chemical measurements of the surface, finding a composition different from the maria. From this one of the main components of the highlands was theorized to be anorthosite, an aluminium-rich mineral. The crater was also imaged in great detail by the Orbiter V. Image File history File links Tycho_Crater_Panorama. ... Image File history File links Tycho_Crater_Panorama. ... Surveyor 7 was the seventh and last lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Anorthosite is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by a predominance of plagioclase feldspar (90-100%), and a minimal mafic component (0-10%). Pyroxene, ilmenite, magnetite, and olivine are the mafic minerals most commonly present. ... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the Lunar Orbiter series, was designed to take additional Apollo and Surveyor landing site photography and to take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moons far side. ...

From the 1950s through the 1990s, NASA aerodynamicist Dean Chapman and others advanced the "lunar origin" theory of tektites. Chapman used complex orbital computer models and extensive wind tunnel tests to support the theory that the so-called Australasian tektites originated from the Rosse ejecta ray of Tycho. Until the Rosse ray is sampled, a lunar origin for these tektites cannot be ruled out. A tektite Tektites (from Greek tektos, molten) are natural glass objects, up to a few centimeters in size, which — according to most scientists — have been formed by the impact of large meteorites on Earths surface, although a few researchers favor an origin from the Moon as volcanic ejecta. ...

This crater was drawn on lunar maps as early as 1645, when Antonius Maria Schyrleus de Rheita depicted the bright ray system. // Events January 10 - Archbishop Laud executed on Tower Hill, London. ...

The Tycho crater figures prominiently in the film and book 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which it is the location of a mysterious alien monolith which "appears to have been deliberately buried."

It also serves as the location of "Tycho City" in Star Trek: First Contact; a lunar metropolis by the 24th century. (Even though it didn't exist in 2063; the point in history where the crew of the Enterprise had travelled to, Commander Riker claimed he could see it from the surface of the Earth.) Star Trek: First Contact (Paramount Pictures, 1996; see also 1996 in film), is the eighth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... (Redirected from 2063) Millennia: 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium - 4th millennium Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century Decades: 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s - 2060s - 2070s 2080s 2090s Years: 2060 2061 2062 2063 2064 2065 2066 2067 2068 2069 The Decade as a Whole This decade is expected to be called... The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) is a Sovereign class starship in the Star Trek fictional universe. ... For the political scientist, see William H. Riker. ...

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on Lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Tycho crater.

References

• See the reference table for the general listing of literature and web sites that were used in the compilation of this page.