TYCHO CRATER
| TYCHO CRATER, One of the most prominent impact craters on the Lunar surface. Easily recognizable from earth with a pair of binoculars. Click the more information tab for a detailed description of this location. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A TYCHO CRATER CLAIM for just 29.99! |
Tycho Crater Location Description
Tycho Crater lies in the southern Lunar highlands and is easily visible from Earth with a pair of binoculars. In fact, this crater was drawn on Lunar maps which debuted as early as 1645. Tycho Crater is a relatively young crater, believed to have been formed approximately 108 million years ago by a large impact from a Baptistina Family asteroid. Tycho is a massive crater with a depth of approximately 4.8 km (almost 16,000 feet), and a diameter of 85 km (53 miles).
The asteroid believed to have produced Tycho Crater came from the Baptistina Family. Baptistina was believed to have been a large asteroid measuring approximately 110 miles wide. This asteroid was made up of particles from the Solar Nebula and formed slowly during the early formation of our solar system. This Baptistina asteroid was believed to have been hit by another object approximately 160 million years ago, creating the Baptistina family of asteroids and this breakup lead to a large series of impacts on Earth and the Moon 50 to 100 million years ago. These types of asteroids are considered to be made up of some of the oldest particles and compounds in our solar system and are of the rarest types of meteorites found on Earth.
In addition to being responsible for the formation of Tycho Crater on the Moon, a 6 mile wide Baptistina family asteroid is believed to have impacted Earth, forming the Chicxulub Crater near the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, approximately 65 million years ago. This impact created one of the largest confirmed impact craters on Earth, measuring 110 miles in diameter, which scientists have long theorized led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The rim of Tycho Crater was the landing site for the Surveyor 7 probe, and Apollo 17 landed approximately 2000 km from TYCHO along a ray of material ejected from it, in order to gather samples relating to its formation. Tycho Crater is also featured in a several science fiction films and a book. In the film and book, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tycho Crater is the location of a monolith buried on the Lunar surface over 4 million years ago by an alien civilization. Tycho also serves as the location of “Tycho City”, a 24th century community in the film Star Trek: First Contact.
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