Tycho (lunar crater)

[5] However, this possibility was ruled out by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer in 2011, as it was discovered that the Baptistina family was produced much later than expected, having formed approximately 80 million years ago.

[7] The ramparts beyond the rim have a lower albedo than the interior for a distance of over a hundred kilometers, and are free of the ray markings that lie beyond.

Its inner wall is slumped and terraced, sloping down to a rough but nearly flat floor exhibiting small, knobby domes.

Detailed photographs of the floor show that it is covered in a criss-crossing array of cracks and small hills.

From the 1950s through the 1990s, NASA aerodynamicist Dean Chapman and others advanced the lunar origin theory of tektites.

Chapman used complex orbital computer models and extensive wind tunnel tests to support the theory that the so-called Australasian tektites originated from the Rosse ejecta ray of Tycho.

[13] By convention, these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Tycho.

Location of Tycho as seen from the Northern Hemisphere
3D model of Tycho crater
The large ray system centered on Tycho
Panoramic view of the lunar surface taken by Surveyor 7 , which landed about 29 km (18 mi) from the rim of Tycho