South Ray crater is a small crater in the

Descartes Highlands The Descartes Highlands is an area of lunar highlands located on the near side that served as the landing site of the American Apollo 16 mission in early 1972. The Descartes Highlands is located in the area surrounding Descartes crater, after ...

of the Moon photographed from the lunar surface by the astronauts of

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth human spaceflight, crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the second o ...

. The name of the crater was formally adopted by the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

in 1973. The Apollo 16

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed s ...

(LM) ''Orion'' landed between North Ray and South Ray craters on April 21, 1972. The astronauts

John Young John Young most commonly refers to: *John Young (astronaut) (1930–2018), American astronaut * John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar (1807–1876), British diplomat and politician John Young may also refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) ...

and

Charles Duke Charles Moss Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, United States Air Force (USAF) officer and test pilot, and young Earth creationist. As Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest p ...

explored the area between the craters over the course of three EVAs using a

Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a Battery electric vehicle, battery-powered four-wheeled Rover (space exploration), rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program (Apollo 15, 15, Apollo 16, 16, and Apollo 17 ...

, or rover. They came closest to South Ray on EVA 2, at station 4 ( Cinco crater), about 3.9 km south of the landing site. Duke photographed South Ray from there with a 500-mm lens. South Ray crater contour map p115a

South Ray crater is approximately 700 m in diameter and approximately 120 m deep, with a bright system of

rays Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...

ejecta Ejecta (; ) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a explosive eruption, volcanic explosion and magma eruption v ...

. The astronauts observed that the ejecta of South Ray was very bouldery, and reported that it would have been difficult or impossible to drive there on their rover.Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report
(NASA SP-315), 1972 South Ray cuts into the

Cayley Formation The Cayley Formation is a discontinuous unit of plains-forming material on the Moon. It was first recognized in the central near side of the Moon in 1965, by the Astrogeology group of the United States Geological Survey. It was previously mapped a ...

Imbrian The Imbrian is a lunar geologic period divided into two epochs, the Early and Late. Early Imbrian In the lunar geologic timescale, the Early Imbrian epoch occurred from 3,850 million years ago to about 3,800 million years ago. It overlaps the en ...

age.Geologic Map of the Apollo 16 (Descartes) Landing Area
by Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team (D. P. Elston, E. L. Boudette, J. P. Schafer),

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

, April 1972 The crater itself is much younger ( Copernican).

External links

Apollo 16 Traverses
NASA Lunar Photomap 78D2S2(25)
John Young at South Ray Crater
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Posted by David Portree on July 5, 2018

References

{{reflist Apollo 16 Impact craters on the Moon