Orontius and the complex of craters forming a scorpion.

Orontius (122 km), is the head of a line of craters that form a "scorpion" with a curved tail. The craters, which are the body and tail of the "scorpion", are Huggins (65 km), Nasireddin (52 km) and Miller (75 km), Miller C (36 km), being the tip of the tail.

I do not know if the successive impacts were shortly one after another, but it is clear that Orontius is the oldest of them, followed by Huggins, after which were Nasireddin and Miller. We can see that, by observing how they overlap each other.


Orontius is very close to the crater Tycho (85 km). The distance between their edges is only of 78 km. Therefore, this area is full of a very high albedo from the impact that caused the formation of Tycho.

Moon age: 7 days
Stage: 51% (0% = New, 100% = Full)
Distance: 384.488 km

Optics: Celestron C8-Newtonian telescope, 20mm Plössl, 2x barlow
Mount: CG5 (EQ5)
Camera: Sony CX130
Filter: no
Date: 29/04/2012
Location: Baia Mare, Romania
Processing: video captures, FastStone Image Viewer

Posted in: Craters-Orontius