Definition
Halo around fresh impact craters displaying brighter optical albedo, higher radar backscatter, and distinctive thermal properties relative to their surroundings.
Synonyms
Lucid spot (obsolete, Birt 1867), nimbus (obsolete)
Description
Optical and radar-bright halo surrounding fresh craters; often occurring with bright crater rays (Pieters et al. 1985) (Fig. 1). In some cases, a dark collar also is seen adjacent to crater (dark halo crater; impact, optical). Most optically bright fresh craters also have a radar-bright ring (Fig. 2); however, the reverse is not true (Thomson et al. 2013).
A 9.4-km diameter-rayed bright-haloed lobate ejecta crater in Chryse Planitia at 25.8°N, 333°E (Buczkowski et al. 2008) and other bright-haloed craters without lobate ejecta and rays. Scale bar 10 km. Viking color MDIM mosaic (NASA/JPL)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bell SW, Thomson BJ, Dyar MD, Neish CD, Cahill JTS, Bussey DBJ (2012) Dating small fresh lunar craters with Mini-RF radar observations of ejecta blankets. J Geophys Res 117:E00H30. doi:10.1029/2011JE004007
Buczkowski DL, Barnouin-Jha OS, Seelos FP, Seelos FP, Seelos KD, Malaret E, Hash C et al (2008) Bright-haloed craters in chryse planitia. Lunar Planet Sci Conf 39:1032
Elger TG (1895) The moon – a full description and map of its principal physical features. George Philip & Son, London
Grier JA, McEwen AS, Lucey PG, Milazzo M, Strom RG (2001) Optical maturity of ejecta from large rayed lunar craters. J Geophys Res 106(E12):32847–32862. doi:10.1029/1999JE001160
Kuiper GP (1954) On the origin of the lunar surface features. Proc Natl Acad Sci 40:1096–1112
Pieters CM, Adams JB, Mouginis-Mark PJ, Zisk SH, Smith MO, Head JW, McCord TB (1985) The nature of crater rays: the Copernicus example. J Geophys Res 90(B14):12393–12413. doi:10.1029/JB090iB14p12393
Thomson BJ, Bussey DBJ, Cahill JTS, El-Baz F, Neish CD, Raney RK, Trang D (2013) Global distribution of radar-bright halos on the moon detected by LRO Mini-RF. 44th Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #2107, Houston
Wood CA (2003) The modern moon. A personal view. Sky Publishing, Cambridge, MA
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Hargitai, H. (2015). Bright Halo Crater (Impact). In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_24
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3133-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3134-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences