De La Rue (crater)

De La Rue
	Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	59°06′N53°00′E / 59.1°N 53.0°E Coordinates: 59°06′N53°00′E / 59.1°N 53.0°E
Diameter	136 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	310° at sunrise
Eponym	Warren de la Rue

Last updated August 07, 2019

De La Rue is the remnant of a lunar impact crater, or possibly several merged craters, creating a formation sometimes called a walled plain. It lies in the northeastern part of the Moon on the near side, and so appears foreshortened due to its location. This formation lies to the north-northwest of the prominent crater Endymion, just beyond the eastern extreme of Mare Frigoris. The crater Strabo intrudes into the northern part of De La Rue's northern rim, and the smaller Thales is attached to the northwestern part of the wall.

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

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.

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 crater was named after Warren De la Rue, who took some of the first photos of the moon.

Warren De la Rue was a British astronomer, chemist, and inventor, most famous for his pioneering work in astronomical photography.

The perimeter of De La Rue is a disintegrated mass of hills, irregular ground, and notches from old craters. The rim is generally rounded along the northwest half, while a formation to the southeast intrudes into the crater resulting in a somewhat straightened wall along that flank. The overall result is a somewhat pear-shaped perimeter. There are remnants of small craters along the south-southeast rim, and several ghost-crater rims lie along the interior floor beside the northern inner wall.

A palimpsest, in planetary astronomy, is an ancient crater on an icy moon of the outer Solar System whose relief has disappeared due to creep of the icy surface or subsequent cryovolcanic outpourings, leaving a circular albedo feature, perhaps with a "ghost" of a rim. Icy surfaces of natural satellites like Callisto and Ganymede preserve hints of their history in these rings. A typical example is Memphis Facula on Ganymede, a 340 km wide palimpsest.

Near the midpoint of the relatively flat interior floor is the bowl-shaped satellite crater De La Rue J. There is rough ground attached to the southern rim of this crater, and low hills just to the west. The inner floor is rougher along the southeast side. The remaining floor is marked by many tiny craterlets, with a notable pair in the northeast part of the interior.

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 De La Rue.

De La Rue	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
D	56.8° N	46.2° E	17 km
E	56.8° N	49.7° E	32 km
J	59.0° N	52.8° E	14 km
P	60.5° N	61.4° E	10 km
Q	61.5° N	60.5° E	10 km
R	62.1° N	61.1° E	9 km
S	62.9° N	61.6° E	12 km
W	55.7° N	46.9° E	18 km

Related Research Articles

Anders is a worn lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies just to the southeast of the outer rim of the huge walled basin named Apollo. To the south-southeast is the crater Leavitt.

Babbage is an ancient lunar impact crater that is located near the northwest limb of the Moon, named after Charles Babbage. It is attached to the southeastern rim of the prominent crater Pythagoras. The crater remnant named South intrudes into the southeastern floor of Babbage.

Byrd is an irregular lunar impact crater that is located near the north pole of the Moon. The north rim of Byrd is nearly connected to the crater Peary, a formation that is adjacent to the pole. The smaller crater Gioja is attached to the remains of the southwest rim.

Beals is a lunar impact crater that is located near the eastern limb of the Moon, and lies across the southwestern rim of the crater Riemann. From the Earth the crater is viewed nearly from on edge, and is best seen during favorable librations. To the west is the large walled plain Gauss.

Dawson is a lunar impact crater that lies on the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies across a crater triplet: the southeast rim is intruding into the crater Alekhin; the northwest rim also intrudes into the larger satellite crater Dawson V, and the northeast rim is attached to the comparably sized Dawson D. To the south of this formation is the large crater Zeeman. West of Dawson is the crater Crommelin, and to the north lies Fizeau.

Bel'kovich is a large lunar impact crater of the form termed a walled plain. The formation has been heavily eroded by a history of subsequent impacts, leaving it reshaped, worn, and the features softened and rounded. Bel'kovich is located along the northeastern limb of the Moon, and so its visibility is subject to libration effects. From the Earth this crater is viewed from the side, making it difficult to view it in detail.

Birkeland is a lunar impact crater that lies in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. This crater is attached to the central waist of the oddly shaped Van de Graaff crater formation, and may partly account for that crater's figure-8 shape. To the southeast is the large walled plain Leibnitz.

Brouwer is a large lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. Intruding into the western rim of Brouwer is the younger and somewhat smaller crater Langmuir. Further to the east-southeast is the larger walled plain Blackett.

Casatus is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southern limb of the Moon. The north-northeast rim of the crater overlies a portion of the slightly larger crater Klaproth. Along the western rim, Casatus A intrudes somewhat into the interior, producing an inward-bowing rim. To the southeast of Casatus is Newton.

Miller is a lunar impact crater that lies amidst the rugged terrain in the southern part of the Moon. It is attached to the northern rim of the smaller crater Nasireddin, and the outer rampart of the latter reaches almost to the central peak formation at the midpoint of Miller's interior floor. Together with Huggins to the southwest and Orontius to the south-southwest, this foursome forms a chain of craters forming an arc that curves towards the north. The northwest rim of Miller in turn is attached to the satellite crater Miller C, forming the end of the arc. To the southeast lies Stöfler. The crater is named after British chemist William Allen Miller.

Demonax is a lunar impact crater near the southern limb of the Moon. This location makes the crater difficult to observe due to foreshortening. The crater is also illuminated at a very low angle, when it is in the sunlit side. Demonax lies just to the north of the crater Scott, one of the south polar formations. To the north-northwest is Boguslawsky.

Pascal is a lunar impact crater that lies near the northern limb of the Moon, on the western side of the pole. It is located to the north of the eroded crater Desargues, and just east of Brianchon. Pascal can be located by finding the crater Carpenter and then following the surface to the northwest towards the limb. However the visibility of this formation can be affected by libration.

Chaffee is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies within the huge walled plain Apollo, and is one of several craters in that formation named for astronauts and people associated with the Apollo program. This basin is a double-ringed formation, and the crater Chaffee is situated across the southwest part of the inner ring. The ridge from this ring extends northward from the northern rim of Chaffee.

Chebyshev is a large lunar impact crater that lies in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. The somewhat smaller crater Langmuir is intruding into the east-southeastern rim of Chebyshev, forming a chain of large craters with Brouwer on Langmuir's eastern rim.

Campbell is a large lunar impact crater that is located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the walled plain D'Alembert, an even larger formation. If Campbell were located on the near side of the Moon as seen from the Earth, it would form one of the largest visible craters, being slightly larger than Schickard. It is bordered by several craters of note, with Wiener to the southwest, Von Neumann just to the south, Ley overlying the southeast rim, and Pawsey to the west.

Carnot is a large crater in the northern part of the Moon's far side. It intrudes into the southern rim of the huge walled plain Birkhoff. To the west-southwest of Carnot is the crater Paraskevopoulos.

Lyman is a lunar impact crater that lies in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It is located to the south of the huge walled plain Poincaré, and to the northeast of Schrödinger, another walled plain. To the east-southeast is the larger crater Minnaert.

Chauvenet is a lunar impact crater that is located to the northeast of the prominent crater Tsiolkovskiy on the far side of the Moon. Less than one crater diameter to the northwest of Chauvenet is the crater Ten Bruggencate.

Nernst is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the northwestern limb. It lies across the northern part of the larger walled plain Lorentz, and intrudes slightly into the northwestern rim of the crater Röntgen.

Petropavlovsky is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It is attached to the southern rim of the slightly larger crater Razumov, intruding slightly into the interior. Just to the west is the crater Frost, along the southern rim of the walled plain Landau.

References

Wood, Chuck (2006-09-02). "A Non-Crater". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-09-15.

Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS . Retrieved 2007-08-05.
Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 978-0-936389-27-1.
McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report . Retrieved 2007-10-24.
Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763.
Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6.
Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3.
Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4.
Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3.
Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6.
Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1.

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.

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.

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.

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v t e Craters on the Moon: C-F
C/D	C. Herschel C. Mayer Cabannes Cabeus Cailleux Cai Lun Cajal Cajori Calippus Cameron Campanus Campbell Cannizzaro Cannon Cantor Capella Capuanus Cardanus Carlini Carlos Carmichael Carnot Carol Carpenter Carrel Carrillo Carrington Cartan Carver Casatus Cassegrain Cassini Catalán Catharina Cauchy Cavalerius Cavendish Caventou Cayley Celsius Censorinus Cepheus Chacornac Chadwick Chaffee Challis Chalonge Chamberlin Champollion Chandler Chang Heng Chang-Ngo Chant Chaplygin Chapman Chappe Chappell Charles Charlier Chaucer Chauvenet Chawla Chebyshev Chernyshev Chevallier Ching-Te Chladni Chrétien Cichus Clairaut Clark Clausius Clavius Cleomedes Cleostratus Clerke Coblentz Cockcroft Collins Colombo Compton Comrie Comstock Condon Condorcet Congreve Conon Cook Cooper Copernicus Cori Coriolis Couder Coulomb Courtney Cremona Crile Crocco Crommelin Crookes Crozier Crüger Ctesibius Curie Curtis Curtius Cusanus Cuvier Cyrano Cyrillus Cysatus D. Brown da Vinci Daedalus Dag Daguerre Dale d'Alembert Dalton Daly Damoiseau Daniell Danjon Dante Darney D'Arrest D'Arsonval Darwin Das Daubrée Davisson Davy Dawes Dawson De Forest de Gasparis de Gerlache De La Rue De Moraes De Morgan De Roy De Sitter De Vico De Vries Debes Debus Debye Dechen Delambre Delaunay Delia Delisle Dellinger Delmotte Delporte Deluc Dembowski Democritus Demonax Denning Desargues Descartes Deseilligny Deslandres Deutsch Dewar Diana Diderot Dionysius Diophantus Dirichlet Dobrovol'skiy Doerfel Dollond Donati Donna Donner Doppelmayer Doppler Douglass Dove Draper Drebbel Dreyer Drude Dryden Drygalski Dubyago Dufay Dugan Dunér Dunthorne Dyson Dziewulski
E/F	Eckert Eddington Edison Edith Egede Ehrlich Eichstadt Eijkman Eimmart Einstein Einthoven Elger Ellerman Ellison Elmer Elvey Emden Encke Endymion Engel'gardt Eötvös Epigenes Epimenides Eratosthenes Erlanger Erro Esclangon Esnault-Pelterie Espin Euclides Euctemon Eudoxus Euler Evans Evdokimov Evershed Ewen Fabbroni Fabricius Fabry Fahrenheit Fairouz Faraday Faustini Fauth Faye Fechner Fedorov Felix Fényi Feoktistov Fermat Fermi Fernelius Fersman Fesenkov Feuillée Fibiger Finsch Finsen Firmicus Firsov Fischer Fitzgerald Fizeau Flammarion Flamsteed Fleming Florensky Florey Focas Fontana Fontenelle Foster Foucault Fourier Fowler Fox Fra Mauro Fracastorius Franck Franklin Franz Fraunhofer Fredholm Freud Freundlich Fridman Froelich Frost Fryxell Furnerius

Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	59°06′N53°00′E / 59.1°N 53.0°E / 59.1; 53.0 Coordinates: 59°06′N53°00′E / 59.1°N 53.0°E / 59.1; 53.0
Diameter	136 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	310° at sunrise
Eponym	Warren de la Rue