Baldet (lunar crater)

Baldet

LRO image
Coordinates	53°19′S151°58′W / 53.32°S 151.96°W / -53.32; -151.96
Diameter	55.76 km (34.65 mi)
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	153° at sunrise
Eponym	Fernand Baldet

Unnamed crater with fractured floor, northern floor of Baldet

Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image

Baldet is a lunar impact crater that is located on the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies in the lava-flooded region between the craters Cori to the north, Stoney to the southwest, and the worn walled plain Minkowski to the southeast.

The rim of Baldet is low and worn, but generally retains its original circular shape. There is a slight outward bulge along the northwest rim, and the western interior wall is wider than elsewhere.

The flat, nearly featureless interior has been flooded by lava, and has a lower albedo than the surroundings giving is a darker hue. A smaller crater has broken into the eastern rim, leaving a gap where the two craters intersect that has been covered in lava. A similar-sized crater with a fractured floor ^[1] lies just inside the northern rim, producing a raised ring in the crater surface. A similar crater lies just outside the southern rim of Baldet.

The crater was named by the IAU in 1970 after French astronomer Fernand Baldet. ^[2]

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Baldet.

Baldet	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
J	54.6° S	149.5° W	17 km

References

1. The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. USGS Professional Paper: 1348. (online)
2. Baldet, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)

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