Valleys on the Moon

[Nik271]

With the next full Moon approaching fast and hopefully some clear nights ahead I made this list of lunar valleys for observation. They should be visible in most scopes in the right illumination or lunar libration. While I've seen lots of them so far there are a few that still elude me, notably the Inghirami, Baade and Bouvard. 

So here we go in no particular order

 

1. Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes)   perhaps the most famous one - easily found on the edge of Mare Imbrium between Plato and Aristoteles.

2. Schroter's Valley (Vallis Schroteri) another spectacular valley, next to Aristarchus. Both Schroter's and Alpine valleys are filled with lava and have a smooth looking floor.

3. Valllis Capella. This one is a bit obscure, it has the distinction of being the shortest lunar valley at only 47 km. It is a groove that runs through the crater Capella north of Mare Nectaris:

 

The next three are all found close to each other in the south east (Moonbased direction) or south west for Earth observers.

4. Vallis Rheita the second longest on the Moon. Together with Snellius they are radial to Mare Nectaris and seem to be impact valleys from the birth of Nectaris. 

5. Vallis Palitzsch This one is easily seen behind the crater Petavius

6. Vallis Snellius.  This one is the longest valley on the Moon at 600 km but tricky to spot. I only manged to identify it last week when the Moon was at 15% (3-4 days old)

And then we have three which are radial to Mare Orientale on the western (or eastern from Earth) limb:

7. Vallis Inghirami

8. Vallis Bouvard

9. Vallis Baade

They should be all north of the Inghirami crater, but I haven't seen them yet. They may need a favourable libration. Give them a try next full Moon! 

These are the observable Moon valleys that I know of. Let me know if I missed something and enjoy the Moon this week!

 

Nik

PS: These are not my photos, just annotated screenshots from the wonderfully detailed interactive LROC map of the Moon here https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Nik271
Added PS

[Stu1smartcookie]

Brilliant , Nik ... certainly a nice challenge . 

[Padtwo]

Brilliant thank you!

I went out for the first time with a circle t ortho at the weekend and was quite blown away at how sharp it was.

Looks like I managed to find the Alpine valley, by accident, but have since been trying to find a nice zoomable picture of the moon to see what it was I'd seen!

So, many thanks for the link, and the information on the various valleys