Submission Date

7-19-2024

Document Type

Paper

Department

Physics & Astronomy

Faculty Mentor

Kassandra Martin-Wells

Student Contributor

Annalyse Dickinson

Comments

Presented during the 26th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 19, 2024 at Ursinus College.

Project Description

One can determine the absolute model age of any planetary body in the solar system by compiling statistics about primary craters. However, secondary craters contaminate those statistics. Differentiating between primary craters—which are formed from an impact of an object from space onto a planetary surface—and secondary craters—which are formed from the fragments ejected from primaries—is an outstanding question in planetary science literature. No one characteristic can universally distinguish primaries from secondaries, and workers have developed numerous methods for sorting the two classes of craters. This is why we are developing a semi-automated, transparent, reproducible procedure that will compile datasets that have been shown to highlight differences between primary and secondary craters on the lunar surface. The procedure will be accessible to undergraduate researchers, and our process will be stored, providing a record for future scientists. We will utilize photographic and radar data, which can be visualized, extracted, and referenced using publicly available remote sensing data of the lunar surface, accessible through the Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing (JMARS) geospatial information system software. After reviewing methods performed by previous workers, we decided to follow a method for identifying spatial clustering adapted from Robbins and Hynek (2011). Eventually, this procedure will be used in combination with our other methods to identify characteristics of secondary craters, such as shallow and asymmetric elevation profiles, circular polarization ratio “tails”, herringbone dunes, and rock abundance.

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