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Hortensius Part 2

The "Dish" and the "Fan"

Enlargement of "Dish" and "Fan" and exposed structural girders.

Just above and to the right of the "Factory" region is another set of anomalous features. Beyond the familiar pitted terrain, there are a number of features that are difficult to explain as natural. The crater itself is approximately 2 KM across and seems to be of the collapse variety. The bright triangular area just above the framelet line was what Steve Troy originally noted and dubbed the "Fan". On closer inspection the fan seems to consist of two intersecting structural members barely poking through the regolith. They are very linear and have regularly spaced "Lightening holes", or dark areas, in them. There is also a dark rectangular depression just above the "Fan" that has sides perpendicular to the proposed structural girders.

As I studied the image I was struck by what appeared to be an edge to the crater on lower left side just below the framelet line. Note that there is a distinct rim in this portion of the image. Given the shadow length, I was also a bit disturbed by the dark zone just below and to the right of the crater rim. If this were a normal crater, the area should be illuminated rather than pit black. It occurred to me that there must have been a collapse of the surface skin in this dark zone. By all rights, this should be a lopsided partial crater with a significant build up of collapse material in the dark zone.The problem then becomes; "What is providing the structural stiffness of the crater itself?"

Close-up of the crater rim. Note the distinct lower lip and rounded edge.

The Strut and Girder

The shadowed area, support "Strut" and "Girder", and marked up version, right.

The simple fact is that unless the crater is an extremely stiff structural object, it should probably have collapsed into the recessed dark area. Given that it did not, I considered the winding, striated feature in the left center of the object as a possible support strut. It projects from the surface at a 45 degree angle and an apparently anchors under the rim of the crater. Note also the parallel lines making up segments of the "Strut" are aligned at this same angle, rather than running along the direction of the surrounding terrain. It has all the earmarks of an spring loaded strut, similar to the earthquake absorption systems in modern office buildings. There is also an odd jagged edge on the right portion of the deeply shadowed area, as if a plate or board was broken by an impact.

Underneath the "Strut" is an object easily recognizable as "I-Beam" or girder with lightening holes. This is similar to other such girders just North of the "Dish" in the "Fan" area. It seems to be slightly stressed and bent under the "Strut". It has a central web, raised sides (or flanges) and equally spaced "Lightening Holes". I believe that the middle Lightening Hole is slightly distorted by the vertical line (which may be a defect) passing just through the middle of it. Compare it with the crude sketch below.

Top and side views of a typical structural girder.

"Jerhico"

This area, approximately 4 X 4 km, is an astonishingly structured complex series of rectilinear patterns southeast of the "Factory". It is seated in a much broader pattern of rectilinear features in the adjacent territory which are parallel to each other along a vast network. The highly ordered internal geometry's are "walled-in" by a raised right-angular pattern reminiscent of a building foundation, but on a much vaster scale. Note also the square crater just below the framelet line, the twin double or "keyhole" craters, and the "ramps" descending into the complex from the middle-right. (This view has not been orthographically corrected, excluding that as a possible explanation of the "Square" crater.)

Steve has compared this area to a well-known "D" shaped (presumably) natural depression in the Apennine mountain region.

I cannot concur with this assessment. The caldera in question is a clear depression, while "Jerhico", is level with the surrounding terrain and the walls are raised above by a significant distance. The combination of features suggest a constructed rather than erosive explanation for this formation, especially when taken in context with the nearby "Factory" and other anomalies.

Conclusions

The "Factory" is, in my opinion, the best evidence yet of a prior inhabitation of the Moon. Not only are all the features plainly visible in both the analog and digital data sets, they defy any reasonable prosaic geological explanation. Since a traditional impact model cannot possibly be entertained as an explanation of the features, a complex collapse/magma flow scenario is the only possibility for this area. The presence of volcanic domes and possible lava tubes in the immediate vicinity encourage the adoption of this model as the alternative to the artificiality hypothesis. Unfortunately, the volcanism explanation fails miserably when faced with the indisputable fact that it bears no resemblance to any volcanic region either on the Moon or elsewhere in the Solar system. The terraced multi-level topography and recessed bunker formations are indicative of military installations in remote areas of Earth, and the "Lincoln Memorial" evokes comparisons with power plants other large-scale facilities.

The "Overhang", "Crater" and "Fan" areas adjacent to the "Factory" are also well outside traditional Lunar geologic modeling. They appear to be part of a massive and well organized  underground facility in the region, and they reveal damaged and exposed support structures that make architectural sense while simultaneously defying natural explanation. These individual features are also well within the limits of the enhancement process, and it is unlikely we have mistaken their true form due to shading anomalies. The quality of the photographic negatives and scanning artifacts must also be rejected as explanations for these unusual formations, since the NSSDC provided 8 X 10 negatives are pristine and the scans match feature by feature.

"Jerhico" is less challenging to the traditional ideas of Lunar geology, but still falls beyond the boundaries of conventional reasoning. It's rectilinear exterior walls and internal geometry are very similar to man-made architectures (such as the Pentagon) when viewed from orbit. However, a better close-up view of this feature would be required to make any final conclusions regarding it's origins.

Finally, I extend an invitation to geologists or planetary scientists to provide images of features similar to the ones posted here anywhere on the Lunar surface. Until and unless they can be found to be common naturally selenographic features, I must assert a 90% probability of artificial origin for the Hortensius anomalies.

© 1998 MICHAEL BARA