The photograph was taken by the Lunar Orbiter's High-Resolution camera.  

LO4Domes.gif shows two dome-shaped structures in a small area of Lunar Orbiter 4, Frame 108H3. The area shown is at 3.25 degrees South, 5.75 degrees West. It is also the vicinity in which the Shard and Cube appear on LO3-84M, just west of the crater Moesting A. The two ridges in the gif running north to south form part of the southern margin of the valley Rima Flammarion. The valley floor is above the top of the gif.

This was a morning photograph, with a sun elevation of 19 degrees.

The more distinct of the two domed structures is marked Dome-1. Its surface is divided into three bands running north to south. The surface has a cellular or faceted texture, which appears to form a hexagon or star pattern on the dome's lower-left quadrant as shown in the inset here:

The structure marked Dome-2 is less distinct, which is in itself curious, because in a lower-resolution Apollo photograph (AS12-7435), it clearly appears as a small featureless hill. The surface of this structure, too, has a cellular texture. The general effect is of a partially transparent structure with a noticeable elongation in the east-to-west direction.

A narrow band of shadow can be seen falling across the lower part of Dome-1 and onto the ridge to the west. No object can be seen in the photograph that could cast such a shadow. Three causes seem possible: (1) some open grid-like structure suspended directly above the dome and the ridge, producing a "venetian blind" effect on the surface below. (2) A very regular triangular patch of low-albedo soil, extending over several different kinds of terrain. (3) A spire-like object, unseen because of the viewing angle, is casting the shadow. Given the lighting conditions in this photograph, shadows should be pointing almost due west from the objects (from the right to the left relative in the gif) while this shadow points towards the northwest. This makes the first two explanations appear more plausible than the third, although an object projecting from a ridge sloping down toward the valley floor could cast such a shadow. More detailed information of the topography of the region would probably be needed to decide.

The diameter of Dome-1, while only 1mm on the 8X10-inch full-size negative, is still 25 times greater than the resolution limit of the Lunar Orbiter camera. I estimate the diameter to be about 1 mile, full scale. Based on the shadowing and the sun elevation, the height of Dome-1 is probably about 400 to 600 feet.


LO4-108H Support Data from the Lunar Orbiter 4 catalog (See definitions of terms):

Time = 17:16:51.1GMT  5-18-67

Spacecraft Altitude = 2719.0km  Spacecraft Radius = 4455.10km

Selenographic Coordinates of Principal Point of Photograph = 3.171 degrees W,  14.44 degrees S.

Sun position at principal point:
     Azimuth = 83.78 degrees clockwise from north. Elevation of sun above horizon:  =21.15

Sun position (derived) at selenogrpahic position shown in the gif:
     Azimuth  = 88.36 degrees. Elevation = 18.55 degrees.