Lunar superlatives from LROC WAC

Laser altimetry data from Japan's SELENE-1 designates the rooftop of the Moon on the wide northwestern rim of the largest crater in this LROC Wide Angle Camera image, 43 km-wide Engel'gardt. The spot (5.44°N, 201.36°E) is not as distinct as Everest or Denali. It rides instead on the highest area in the highest region of the far side highlands, where, not coincidentally, the Moon's crust is thickest. Increasingly higher-resolution Digital Elevation Models generally focus on a humble rise, unexceptional on a high plateau. A future traveler standing there, 10.75 km above the global mean, might see nothing in particular beyond an unusually close horizon, though only a brief bunny hop will be necessary to see breathtaking views overlooking astounding depths and distances. Sample from LROC WAC observation M103209735ME, field of view approximately 100 km; LRO orbit 379, July 26, 2009; alt. 112.88 km, res. 178.3 meters, phase angle 66.22° [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].Barely 2400 km from the Moon's highest point above global mean is it's lowest point, invisible inside the shadows of the 12 km crater, just below mid-left, itself situated within the dramatically low-elevation of the melt-inundated interior of 143 km-wide Antoniadi, in turn not far from the center of ...