The Aristarchus Plateau

On the evening of January 5th 2023, the Sun’s angle on the Moon was just right for what I think is a spectacular view of the crater Aristarchus and the Aristarchus plateau. The Plateau is a distinctive squarish region about 200km across with an offset color from the surrounding lunar mare, from which it rises in places 2km above the Oceanus Procellarum. The crater itself is the brightest crater on the Moon and can be spotted naked eye, and will stand out even in Earthshine.

Equally spectacular to me was the far limb showing numerous craters and ridges illuminated by what to them was the rising morning Sun. Often imagers will keep their cameras oriented so that North is up for their astronomical images, and this includes the Moon. I tilted the camera purposely here as I liked the more dramatic view as if flying over the Moon and viewing the landscape personally.  There are plenty of atlas’s with topographically accurate orientations to their reference images. I wanted something that made me feel like I was there, because to me at the time, I was — and I snapped a photo to remind me of the visit.