Dorsa Smirnov
Contents
Dorsa Smirnov
|
Lat: 27.3°N, Long: 25.3°E, Length: 156 km, Height: km, Rükl: 24 |
Left: LROC WAC mosaic (No.'s M117318506ME, M117338863ME). Processed by LROC_WAC_Previewer.
Right: Consolidated Lunar Atlas, Plate C4 (see Nomenclature for explanation of letters; the small crater below the point indicated by the "B" is Very (Le Monnier B))
Images
LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Images
- Although the LPI's Search for orbital Apollo-photographs shows only one frame for Dorsa Smirnov, this formation was FREQUENTLY photographed during the missions of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17! - DannyCaes Apr 30, 2010
Maps
(LAC zone 42B3) LAC map Geologic map LM map 42 LTO map 42B3 LTO map 42B4 LTO map 42C1
Description
Description: Wikipedia
Additional Information
- Dorsa Smirnov is a part of the larger (500 km long) feature known informally as the (great) Serpentine Ridge.
- The length of the section from "A" to "B" is 72 km; the segment from "C" to "D" measures 110 km. Taken together, the total length from "A" to "D" is 160 km.
- Remarkable "helix" shape of Dorsa Smirnov south of craterlet Very. See LPOD Rhapsody in Blue and Gold. - DannyCaes Feb 12, 2014
Is the most northern section of Dorsa Smirnov (at Posidonius Gamma) also the western part of the remains of a large crater southwest of Posidonius?
So it looks on the Big Shadows overview of the LROC's Act-React Quick Map. This subdued large crater (composed of wrinkle ridges) is about the same size as Posidonius itself. Is it already mentioned somewhere in scientific literature? - DannyCaes Dec 27, 2015
Nomenclature
- Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov (September 16, 1895 — August 20, 1947) was a Russian geologist and mineralogist and academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1943).
- "Dorsa" is the Latin plural, so its use in the name implies a series of ridges, rather than a single ridge, but precisely which ones were meant to be included in the name is unclear.
- The initial IAU approval of the name "Dorsa Smirnov" in 1976 applied to the ridge or system of ridges that had been labeled that way on LTO 42B3, 42B4and 42C1. That section of ridge extended from points "C" to "D" in the above section of Consolidated Lunar Atlas Plate C4. Because the Apollo coverage, on which the LTO charts were based, did not extend north of point "C" it is impossible to know if the map makers would have applied the name to the ridges that extend to the north, but they did not label the small section of the upper ridge at "B" that is visible in LTO 42B3and "Dorsum Smirnov" does not seem to have been meant to apply to it. This identification of the name "Dorsa Smirnov" as denoting only the ridge from "C" to "D" was continued in LM-42 (1976). However Rükl labeled the entire segment from "A" to "D" with the name "Dorsa Smirnov", and the USGS Digital Atlas seems to be following that tradition.
- The original IAU approval of this name did not assign a specific position or dimension for this feature. The currently listed length of 156 km seems to correspond to the "A"-"D" combination, but the center point is placed several degrees too far to the north, making the identification of this name with specific ridges particularly ambiguous.
- NASA RP-1097 gives a length of 130 km, corresponding more closely to the "C"-"D" segment, but places the center at 25 N, 25E, just slightly south of Very, again making the intention ambiguous.
LPOD Articles
Bibliography
