How do I get more information on an area?

[ocpaul20]

For example, using the picture from Lunar Orbiter 4071_h1 we have:

Spacecraft Position:
Altitude: 2972.30 km
Latitude: -42.22°
Longitude: 33.74°
Principal Point:
Latitude: -43.69°
Longitude: 46.67°
Illumination:
Sun Azimuth: 64.69°
Incident Angle: 66.46°
Emission Angle: 15.07°
Phase Angle: 79.72°
Alpha: -13.44°

These are the details from the Lunar Orbiter page where the photos are shown. If I want to find out more information or a different angle of image capture, where would I go to find these things?

What I have done so far is to submit these details to the Clementine project tools
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/tools/clementine
as follows, so hopefully I have got the area I need:

Input Area of Interest:
South = -45
North = -35
West = 30
East = 50

Output Map Parameters:
Projection = simp
Center Latitude = 0.0
Center Longitude = 0.0
Scale (km/pix) = 0.1
Scale (pix/deg) = 0.0


and I have received this.... but unfortunately I cannot identify the crater I want to look at which is the large one in the middle on the left of the 4071_h1 picture. Can anyone help please?

The Clementine picture is 17Mb so I cannot upload it here but I hope you can get the idea from the image I have shrunk. Thanks.

[ocpaul20]

Anyone got any helpful advice please?

[Kiwi]

The Principal Point in the Lunar Orbiter photos, in this case,
Latitude: -43.69°, Longitude: 46.67°
appears to be near the centre of the centre frame of the three, so features in the top and bottom photos can be a considerable distance from the coordinates given.

Eastern and northern coordinates (N-E) are positive numbers; western and southern coordinates (S-W) are negative numbers.


...I cannot identify the crater I want to look at which is the large one in the middle on the left of the 4071_h1 picture.

If you are this interested in lunar features you should be finding the details yourself. I've already told you the main reference I use (it's not the only one) for identifying lunar features: "Atlas of the Moon", Antonin Rukl. Paul Hamlyn Publishing, London (1991). I suggest you obtain something similar so you can find the same as follows.

The features in your second thumbnail are shown in maps 67 and 68, between approximately 35.5° S and 44.5° S, and between approximately 30.0° E and 48.5° E. The three largest craters from lower centre-right to top right are:
1. Fabricus, 42.9° S, 42.0° E, 78 km dia.
2. Metius, 40.3° S, 43.3° E, 88 km dia.
3. Rheita, 37.1° S, 47.2° E, 70 km dia.

Below the top left corner, with the brightly-lit southern edge, is Wohler, 38.2°S, 31.4°E, 27 km dia. And on the bottom margin inside the left corner is Janssen HB and Janssen H – details not available in Rukl's atlas.

Fabricus and Metius are visible in Lunar Orbiter Frame 4071_h2 and Rheita is top right of h2 and bottom right of h3.

The crater you want to identify, just above centre left of 4071_h1, is at 54.9°S, 51.3°E, well below your second thumbnail. It is 76 km diameter and is illustrated on Rukl's maps 67 and 68. I'll leave it to you to find its name. In maps which show the telescope view from earth, this crater is seen obliquely, whereas 4071_h1 shows it from overhead.

Note: Beware when checking at coordinates. Sometimes they will be shown in decimal parts of a degree, (54.9° S, 51.3° E -- note the ° sign after the decimal figure) and sometimes in degrees, minutes and seconds of arc, so those figure become 54° 54' 0" S, 51° 18' 0" E, or less commonly 54:54:00 S, 51:18:00 E.

[ocpaul20]

Thanks Kiwi. I have done decimal coordinates for a mapping project in the past.
What you have told me is very helpful and it was what I was hoping for. Thanks again.