AS16-4558(P)

Figure 105

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The two bright-rayed craters in this picture have been examined more closely from the lunar surface than those illustrated earlier in this chapter. The larger one, South Ray (5), is located 6.2 km southwest of the Apollo 16 landing point, indicated by an arrow at the top edge. At sampling station 8, 3.4 km from the edge of South Ray, astronauts John Young and Charles Duke sampled some rocks from South Ray that had been deposited as ejecta along one of its numerous rays. Studies of these rocks indicate that South Ray formed about 2.5 million years ago bringing rocks 3.8 billion years old to the surface. The impact that created South Ray crater occurred when Australopithecus lived in Africa-well before contemporary man evolved. The much smaller rayed crater is Baby Ray (B). Its rim crest is much sharper than South Ray's and its rays overlie those of South Ray. Consequently it is younger, possibly having formed within modern man's time span.  -H.J.M.

Another view of the crater South Ray (Figure 6). This detailed topographic map was prepared under the supervision of S. S. C. Wu of the U.S. Geological Survey by photogrammetric techniques. Prepared from a stereo pair of panoramic camera photographs, it is one of the largest scale maps ever done with Apollo orbital images. The area shown here is a small part of a map that was used for compiling geologic data from the Apollo 16 mission. Dashed lines have been added to the original map to show the crest of South Ray's rim. From this type of topographic representation, the width, depth, slope of the walls, and other parameters can be measured. For example, the maximum depth of the crater, measured from the high point on the rim (7771 m) to the low point in the floor (7628 m), is 143 m.   -G.W.C.