Baade (crater)

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Baade
Baade crater 4186 h2.jpg
Coordinates 44°48′S81°48′W / 44.8°S 81.8°W / -44.8; -81.8 Coordinates: 44°48′S81°48′W / 44.8°S 81.8°W / -44.8; -81.8
Diameter 55 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 83° at sunrise
Eponym Walter Baade
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 4 image with slightly different lighting Baade crater 4193 h3.jpg
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 4 image with slightly different lighting

Baade is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southwest limb of the Moon on the near side, to the southwest of the enormous Mare Orientale impact basin. The area to the east of this crater forms the junction between the 280-km-long Vallis Bouvard to the north and the narrower, 160-km-long Vallis Baade to the south-southeast. Both valleys radiate away from the impact basin to the north.

Lunar craters

Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, almost all of which were formed by impacts.

Impact crater Circular depression on a solid astronomical body formed by a hypervelocity impact of a smaller object

An impact crater is an approximately circular depression in the surface of a planet, moon, or other solid body in the Solar System or elsewhere, formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller body. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain. Impact craters range from small, simple, bowl-shaped depressions to large, complex, multi-ringed impact basins. Meteor Crater is a well-known example of a small impact crater on Earth.

Moon Earths natural satellite

Earth's Moon is an astronomical body that orbits the planet and acts as its only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits. The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io, the second-densest satellite in the Solar System among those whose densities are known.

The outer wall of Baade remains sharp-edged, with little appearance of erosion due to subsequent impacts. The rim is generally circular, with some terracing of the inner wall. The crater interior is rough and irregular, with a generally bowl-shaped appearance that lacks a sharply defined floor. There is no central peak at the midpoint of the interior, and no craterlets of note mark the surface.

This crater lies within the Mendel-Rydberg Basin, a 630 km wide impact basin of Nectarian age.

Mendel-Rydberg Basin

The Mendel-Ryberg Basin is a Nectarian impact basin on the southwestern limb of the moon. It is named after the crater Mendel on the west margin and the smaller crater Rydberg north of the center of the basin. The basin is due south of the larger, younger Orientale basin, and ejecta and other geomorphological effects from the younger basin have overprinted the older one.

The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3920 million years ago to 3850 million years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact events. Ejecta from Nectaris forms the upper part of the densely cratered terrain found in lunar highlands.

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References

Ewen Whitaker British astronomer

Ewen Adair Whitaker was a British-born astronomer who specialized in lunar studies. During World War II he was engaged in quality control for the lead sheathing of hollow cables strung under the English Channel as part of the "Pipe Line Under The Ocean" Project (PLUTO) to supply gasoline to Allied military vehicles in France. After the war, he obtained a position at the Royal Greenwich Observatory working on the UV spectra of stars, but became interested in lunar studies. As a sideline, Whitaker drew and published the first accurate chart of the South Polar area of the Moon in 1954, and served as director of the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Association.

NASA space-related agency of the United States government

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

United States Geological Survey Scientific agency of the United States government

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.