Around Iridum, SINUS

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Date & Time:	Sep 21 2000, 26:49 JST(+0900), 1/3sec. Exp.
Optical:	VIXEN 20cm(7.9") VISAC, afocal method with LV12mm eyepiece
	Synthesized focal length f=2865mm (equivalent f=15356mm in 35mm film format)
	Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI EM-200 Equatorial
Digital Camera:	OLYMPUS C-2020Z
Location:	Kokubunji city, Tokyo

Camera Settings:	Mode.....SHQ (1600 x 1200, high-quality JPEG format)
	Lens.....f=19.1mm (equivalent f=105mm in 35mm film format), Stop: F2.8
	CCD sensitivity.....ISO100, White Balance.....Auto

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Iridum, SINUS (The inlet of iridescence) is a semicircle bay-like feature at the edge of Imbrium, MARE (The sea of rain). It can be said that the bay is the one of most beautiful scenic spots in lunar topography.
It's considered that this well-proportioned inlet may be a large-scaled crater. A theory is saying that a meteorite, which made Iridum, SINUS collided from the lower right direction, and reached the central region of sea of rain and formed a huge hollow. The hollow was filled up by lava and finally the feature of Iridum, MARE was completed. Now the hollow that made the sea of rain is called "The Imbrium Basin".

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Gazetteer

	INDEX	NAME	Crater's Diameter
	1	Bianchini	38km
	2	Sharp	40km
	3	Mairan	40km
	4	Helicon	25km
	5	le Verrier	20km
	6	Maupertuis	46km
	A	Iridum, SINUS	-
	B	Imbrium, MARE	-
	C	Roris, SINUS	-
	D	Jura, MONTES	-
	E	Recti, MONTES	-
	F	Land. point of Lunar 17 (Nov 17 '70) USSR

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Moon age 27.9

Central Region of Imbrium, MARE

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		Copyright(c) 2001 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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