Sketching Aristarchus and Herodotus Craters

On April 23, 2021 I got out with the telescope for the first time in a month to get a sketch of a couple moon craters. This sketch is of two craters, Aristarchus and Herodotus along the terminator of a 87% waxing gibbous moon. This region is particularly interesting because Aristarchus is quite bright and there is very interesting rille nearby.

Aristarchus is bright because it is relatively young at around 450 million years old. This crater is 40km wide and about 2km deep. Being so bright this feature can be spotted with the unaided eye when look at the moon near full, and I believe it stands out a bit even when the moon is full.

With a lower albedo, Herodotus appears dimmer than Aristarchus. Herodotus is 35km wide with a depth of 1.5km.

The rille, known as Vallis Schröteri can be found to the north of Herodotus and runs 160km long and almost a kilometer deep. It heads north from the crater, then turning northwest where it then turns southwest and comes to abrupt end where it appears to get wider giving it it's nickname, "Cobra Head."

Aristarchus and Herodotus Sketch
The area I star the sketch on looks like a crater, but it actually isn't, it appears to be ridges, but the sunlight and shadows make it look like a crater at the time of sketching this. My placement of Aristarchus in relation to Herodotus is a bit off, I should have place it a bit higher and maybe even a little further away. 

To see the time lapse of this sketch be sure to check out the video:



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