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Lunar 100

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L14 Sinus Iridum

The Lunar 100 (L100) is a list of one hundred of the most interesting features to observe on the Moon. The list was first described by Charles A. Wood in the article The Lunar 100 in Sky & Telescope magazine, April 2004.[1]

With this selection, Wood tried to give astronomy fans a list similar to the Messier catalog of deep-sky objects, but of a more familiar object, the Moon. The objects listed include craters, seas, mountains and other features, and are arranged in ascending order of observational difficulty. The Moon is L1, L2 is Earthshine, L3 is the contrast between the dark seas and the lighter highlands. Starting from L4 we have geological features, such as craters (Tycho, L6), valleys (Vallis Schröteri, L17) and mountains (Leibnitz Mountains, L96). The last entry is L100, the magnetic swirls of Marginis Sea.

Lunar 100 - list

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L Feature Name Significance Lat. (°) Long. (°) Diam. (km)
L1 Moon Large satellite 3.476
L2 Earthshine Twice reflected sunlight
L3 Mare/highland dichotomy Two materials with distinct compositions
L4 Apennines Imbrium basin rim 18.9N 3.7W 70
L5 Copernicus Archetypal large complex crater 9.7N 20.1W 93
L6 Tycho Large rayed crater with impact melts 43.4S 11.1W 85
L7 Altai Scarp Nectaris basin rim 24.3S 22.6E 425
L8 Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina Crater sequence illustrating stages of degradation 13.2S 24.0E
L9 Clavius Lacks basin features in spite of its size 58.8S 14.1W 225
L10 Mare Crisium Mare contained in large circular basin 18.0N 59.0E 540
L11 Aristarchus Very bright crater with dark bands on its walls 23.7N 47.4W 40
L12 Proclus Oblique-impact rays 16.1N 46.8E 28
L13 Gassendi Floor-fractured crater 17.6S 40.1W 101
L14 Sinus Iridum Very large crater with missing rim 45.0N 32.0W 260
L15 Straight Wall Best example of a lunar fault 21.8S 7.8W 110
L16 Petavius Crater with domed and fractured floor 25.1S 60.4E 177
L17 Schröter's Valley Giant sinuous rille 26.2N 50.8W 168
L18 Mare Serenitatis dark edges Distinct mare areas with different compositions 17.8N 23.0E N/A
L19 Alpine Valley Lunar graben 49.0N 3.0E 165
L20 Posidonius Floor-fractured crater 31.8N 29.9E 95
L21 Fracastorius Crater with subsided and fractured floor 21.5S 33.2E 124
L22 Aristarchus plateau Mysterious uplifted region mantled with pyroclastics 26.0N 51.0W 150
L23 Pico Isolated Imbrium basin-ring fragment 45.7N 8.9W 25
L24 Hyginus Rille Rille containing rimless collapse pits 7.4N 7.8E 220
L25 Messier & Messier A Oblique ricochet-impact pair 1.9S 47.6E 11
L26 Mare Frigoris Arcuate mare of uncertain origin 56.0N 1.4E 1600
L27 Archimedes Large crater lacking central peak 29.7N 4.0W 83
L28 Hipparchus First drawing of a single crater 5.5S 4.8E 150
L29 Ariadaeus Rille Long, linear graben 6.4N 14.0E 250
L30 Schiller Possible oblique impact 51.9S 39.0W 180
L31 Taruntius Young floor-fractured crater 5.6N 46.5E 56
L32 Arago Alpha & Beta Volcanic domes 6.2N 21.4E 26
L33 Serpentine Ridge Basin inner-ring segment 27.3N 25.3E 155
L34 Lacus Mortis Strange crater with rille and ridge 45.0N 27.2E 152
L35 Triesnecker Rilles Rille family 4.3N 4.6E 215
L36 Grimaldi basin A small two-ring basin 5.5S 68.3W 440
L37 Bailly Barely discernible basin 66.5S 69.1W 303
L38 Sabine and Ritter Possible twin impacts 1.7N 19.7E 30
L39 Schickard Crater floor with Orientale basin ejecta stripe 44.3S 55.3W 227
L40 Janssen Rille Rare example of a highland rille 45.4S 39.3E 190
L41 Bessel ray Ray of uncertain origin near Bessel 21.8N 17.9E N/A
L42 Marius Hills Complex of volcanic domes & hills 12.5N 54.0W 125
L43 Wargentin A crater filled to the rim with lava or ejecta 49.6S 60.2W 84
L44 Mersenius Domed floor cut by secondary craters 21.5S 49.2W 84
L45 Maurolycus Region of saturation cratering 42.0S 14.0E 114
L46 Regiomontanus central peak Possible volcanic peak 28.0S 0.6W 124
L47 Alphonsus dark spots Dark-halo eruptions on crater floor 13.7S 3.2W 119
L48 Cauchy region Fault, rilles and domes 10.5N 38.0E 130
L49 Gruithuisen Delta and Gamma Volcanic domes formed with viscous lavas 36.3N 40.0W 20
L50 Cayley Plains Light, smooth plains of uncertain origin 4.0N 15.1E 14
L51 Davy crater chain Result of comet-fragment impacts 11.1S 6.6W 50
L52 Crüger Possible volcanic caldera 16.7S 66.8W 45
L53 Lamont Possible buried basin 4.4N 23.7E 106
L54 Hippalus Rilles Rilles concentric to Humorum basin 24.5S 29.0W 240
L55 Baco Unusually smooth crater floor and surrounding plains 51.0S 19.1E 69
L56 Australe basin A partially flooded ancient basin 49.8S 84.5E 880
L57 Reiner Gamma Conspicuous swirl and magnetic anomaly 7.7N 59.2W 70
L58 Rheita Valley Basin secondary-crater chain 42.5S 51.5E 445
L59 Schiller-Zucchius basin Badly degraded overlooked basin 56.0S 45.0W 335
L60 Kies Pi Volcanic dome 26.9S 24.2W 45
L61 Mösting A Simple crater close to center of lunar near side 3.2S 5.2W 13
L62 Rümker Large volcanic dome 40.8N 58.1W 70
L63 Imbrium sculpture Basin ejecta near and overlying Boscovich and Julius Caesar 11.0N 12.0E
L64 Descartes Apollo 16 landing site; putative region of highland volcanism 11.7S 15.7E 48
L65 Hortensius domes Dome field north of Hortensius 7.6N 27.9W 10
L66 Hadley Rille Lava channel near Apollo 15 landing site 25.0N 3.0E
L67 Fra Mauro formation Apollo 14 landing site on Imbrium ejecta 3.6S 17.5W
L68 Flamsteed P Proposed young volcanic crater and Surveyor 1 landing site 3.0S 44.0W 112
L69 Copernicus secondary craters Rays and craterlets near Pytheas 19.6N 19.1W 4
L70 Humboldtianum basin Multi-ring impact basin 57.0N 80.0E 650
L71 Sulpicius Gallus dark mantle Ash eruptions northwest of crater 19.6N 11.6E 12
L72 Atlas dark-halo craters Explosive volcanic pits on the floor of Atlas 46.7N 44.4E 87
L73 Smythii basin Difficult-to-observe basin scarp and mare 2.0S 87.0E 740
L74 Copernicus H Dark-halo impact crater 6.9N 18.3W 5
L75 Ptolemaeus B Saucer-like depression on the floor of Ptolemaeus 8.0S 0.8W 16
L76 W. Bond Large crater degraded by Imbrium ejecta 65.3N 3.7E 158
L77 Sirsalis Rille Procellarum basin radial rilles 15.7S 61.7W 425
L78 Lambert R A buried "ghost" crater 23.8N 20.6W 54
L79 Sinus Aestuum Eastern dark-mantle volcanic deposit 12.0N 3.5W 90
L80 Orientale basin Youngest large impact basin 19.0S 95.0W 930
L81 Hesiodus A Concentric crater 30.1S 17.0W 15
L82 Linné Small crater once thought to have disappeared 27.7N 11.8E 2.4
L83 Plato craterlets Crater pits at limits of detection 51.6N 9.4W 101
L84 Pitatus Crater with concentric rilles 29.8S 13.5W 97
L85 Langrenus rays Aged ray system 8.9S 60.9E 132
L86 Prinz Rilles Rille system near the crater Prinz 27.0N 43.0W 46
L87 Humboldt Crater with central peaks and dark spots 27.0S 80.9E 207
L88 Peary Difficult-to-observe polar crater 88.6N 33.0E 74
L89 Valentine Dome Volcanic dome 30.5N 10.1E 30
L90 Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins Small craters near the Apollo 11 landing site 1.3N 23.7E 3
L91 De Gasparis Rilles Area with many rilles 25.9S 50.7W 30
L92 Gyldén Valley Part of the Imbrium radial sculpture 5.1S 0.7E 47
L93 Dionysius rays Unusual and rare dark rays 2.8N 17.3E 18
L94 Drygalski Large south-pole region crater 79.3S 84.9W 162
L95 Procellarum basin The Moon's biggest basin? 23.0N 15.0W 3200
L96 Leibnitz Mountains Rim of South Pole-Aitken basin 85.0S 30.0E
L97 Inghirami Valley Orientale basin ejecta 44.0S 73.0W 140
L98 Imbrium lava flows Mare lava-flow boundaries 32.8N 22.0W
L99 Ina D-shaped young volcanic caldera 18.6N 5.3E 3
L100 Mare Marginis swirls Possible magnetic field deposits 18.5N 88.0E

References

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  1. ^ Wood, Charles A. (27 November 2012). "The Lunar 100". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 26 February 2013.