It’s estimated that there are millions of craters sprawled across the surface of the Moon. However, one stands out among all the lunar impact sites visible from our vantage point here on Earth. Named after the Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, the Tycho crater has long intrigued astronomers. Its high walls, flat floor and central peak make it seem like a city on Earth’s natural satellite. Even the Victorian selenographer (someone who charts the Moon) Thomas Gwyn Elger called it “the Metropolitan crater of the Moon”.
The walls of the crater span 51 miles wide and plummet around 2.92 miles to its floor. Incredibly, this is small in comparison to the Moon’s biggest impact site, the South Pole-Aitken basin, which stretches 1,550 miles in diameter. At its centre is a rocky peak that reaches 1.24 miles into the absent air. The curious peak is characteristic of large craters, the result of rock that was compressed by the massive force of the impact, then immediately rebounded upwards.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 178-utgaven av How It Works UK.
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THE POWER OF WATER
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EXPLORING THE MOON'S CAVES
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20 WEIRDEST SCIENCE MYSTERIES
From dark matter to deep-sea crabs, science still can't fully explain these strange quirks of nature
THE TRIANGULUM GALAXY SHINES IN A NEW HUBBLE IMAGE
A nearby galaxy is shining with star formation in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The world's fastest charger fully powers smartphones in five minutes
Scientists have revealed the fastest battery-charging technology in the world for smartphones, which can fully charge a smartphone in less than five minutes.
Real-time brain stimulation slashes Parkinson's symptoms by half in trials
Brain stimulation that rapidly adjusts in real-time can dramatically reduce Parkinson’s symptoms, an early trial suggests.
The hottest ocean temperature in 400 years threatens the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is facing the hottest sea surface temperatures in four centuries.
Massive medieval coin hoard worth about 150 sheep' discovered
Archaeologists in Germany have unearthed over 1,500 medieval silver coins after a citizen noticed what looked like ‘small metal plates’ while digging during a construction project.
