Fahrenheit (crater)

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Fahrenheit
Farenheit crater AS15-M-0541.jpg
Apollo 15 Mapping camera image
Coordinates 13°06′N61°42′E / 13.1°N 61.7°E / 13.1; 61.7 Coordinates: 13°06′N61°42′E / 13.1°N 61.7°E / 13.1; 61.7
Diameter 6 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 299° at sunrise
Eponym Daniel G. Fahrenheit
Apollo 17 image Fahrenheit crater AS17-P-2223.jpg
Apollo 17 image

Fahrenheit is a tiny lunar impact crater located in the southeast part of the Mare Crisium. This area of the surface is nearly devoid of impact features of interest. To the east are the Dorsa Harker wrinkle ridges, and beyond them is Promontorium Agarum at the edge of the mare. The landing site of the Soviet Luna 24 probe is located about 15 kilometers to the southeast.

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.

Mare Crisium lunar mare

Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. The basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago.

The crater is named after German-Dutch physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. [1] It was previously designated Picard X. The crater Picard is located to the east-northeast on the Mare Crisium.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit German-Polish physicist and engineer

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit FRS was a physicist, inventor, and scientific instrument maker. Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, then a predominantly German-speaking Hanseatic city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but lived most of his life in the Dutch Republic (1701–1736) and was one of the notable figures in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology.

Picard (crater) Moon crater

Picard is a lunar impact crater that lies in Mare Crisium. The crater is named for 17th century French astronomer and geodesist Jean Picard. It is the biggest non-flooded crater of this mare, being slightly larger than Peirce to the north-northwest. To the west is the almost completely flooded crater Yerkes. To east of Picard is the tiny Curtis.

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Abbot (crater) lunar crater

Abbot is a small lunar impact crater that lies on the rugged ground between the Mare Fecunditatis in the south and west, and the Mare Crisium to the north. It is a circular crater with a cup-shaped interior. The inner walls slope downward to the midpoint, and no impacts of significant mark the interior or the rim.

Crile (crater) lunar crater

Crile is a tiny lunar impact crater. It is roughly circular and cup-shaped, with interior walls that slope down to the midpoint. The crater lies in the Palus Somni, between the Mare Crisium to the east and Mare Tranquillitatis to the west.

Curtis (crater) lunar crater

Curtis is a very small lunar impact crater that lies in the western Mare Crisium, to the east of the crater Picard. It is a circular, cup-shaped formation that is otherwise undistinguished. It was named after American astronomer Heber D. Curtis in 1973. In the past it was designated Picard Z.

Yerkes (crater) lunar crater

Yerkes is a lunar impact crater near the western edge of Mare Crisium. It was named after American financier Charles Yerkes. To the east of Yerkes is the crater Picard, and farther to the north is Peirce.

Cleomedes (crater) impact crater

Cleomedes is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the northeast part of the visible Moon, to the north of Mare Crisium. It was named after Greek astronomer Cleomedes. It is surrounded by rough ground with multiple crater impacts. The irregular crater Tralles intrudes into the northwest rim. To the east is Delmotte. North of Cleomedes is a triple-crater formation with Burckhardt occupying the center.

Auzout (crater) Lunar crater

Auzout is a lunar impact crater that is located to the southeast of the Mare Crisium, near the eastern limb of the Moon. It is named after French astronomer Adrien Auzout."Auzout (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program. Attached to the southern rim is the smaller crater van Albada. To the east-northeast is the large Condorcet. This crater is not especially notable, although it does possess a central mountain. This crater is designated 'Azout' in some sources.

Alhazen (crater) lunar crater

Alhazen is a lunar impact crater that lies near the eastern limb of the Moon's near side. Just to the south-southeast is the crater Hansen, and to the west is the Mare Crisium. The rim of Alhazen is nearly circular, but appears highly oblong when viewed from the Earth due to foreshortening. The inner walls and the crater floor are rugged and irregular. A low ridge joins the south rim of Alhazen with the nearby Hansen. The crater is named after the Arab Muslim scientist, Ibn al-Haytham.

Greaves (crater) Lunar crater

Greaves is a small lunar impact crater that lies near the southwest edge of Mare Crisium. It is a circular, bowl-shaped formation with a small interior floor at the center of the sloping inner walls. The crater is intruding into the northern edge of the lava-flooded crater Lick. To the northwest is Yerkes, and to the northeast is Picard.

Condorcet (crater) impact crater

Condorcet is a lunar impact crater that is located in the eastern part of the Moon's near side, to the southeast of the Mare Crisium. It was named after French mathematician Marquis de Condorcet. To the northeast of Condorcet are the craters Hansen and Alhazen.

Shapley (crater) lunar crater

Shapley is a lunar impact crater that lies along the southern edge of Mare Crisium. It was named after American astronomer Harlow Shapley. It was previously designated Picard H. However the crater Picard lies about 150 kilometers to the north-northwest across the Mare Crisium. Somewhat closer to this crater are Tebbutt to the west, and Firmicus to the east-southeast.

Glaisher (crater) impact crater

Glaisher is a lunar impact crater that is located in the region of terrain that forms the southwest border of Mare Crisium. It lies to the southwest of the lava-flooded crater Yerkes, and west-northwest of the Greaves–Lick crater pair. It is surrounded by a ring of satellite craters of various dimensions, the larger companions generally being arranged to the south of Glaisher.

Tebbutt (crater) lunar crater

Tebbutt is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southwestern edge of Mare Crisium. It was named after Australian astronomer John Tebbutt. It was formerly designated Picard G before being named by the IAU, and lies south of the crater Picard. To the north of Tebbutt, but farther east than Picard, is the flooded Lick.

Van Albada (crater) lunar crater

van Albada is a lunar impact crater that is attached to the south-southeastern rim of Auzout. It lies southeast of Mare Crisium, and north-northeast of the larger crater Firmicus. Directly to the east is Krogh.

Peirce (crater) impact crater

Peirce is a small lunar impact crater in the western part of Mare Crisium. That dark, circular lunar mare is located in the east-northeasterly part of the Moon's near side. It was named after the American mathematician Benjamin Peirce. Peirce lies to the north of the craters Yerkes and Picard, and southeast of Macrobius located outside the mare. Just over a crater diameter to the north of Peirce is the smaller Swift. To the northwest is the wrinkle ridge Dorsum Oppel.

Fredholm (crater) lunar crater

Fredholm is a small lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged ground to the west of the Mare Crisium. It was named after Swedish mathematician Erik I. Fredholm. It was previously designated Macrobius D. It lies midway between the prominent craters Macrobius to the north and Proclus almost due south.

Eckert (crater) impact crater

Eckert is a tiny, isolated lunar impact crater in the northern part of the Mare Crisium. This crater forms a circular pit in the dark surface of the surrounding lunar mare. Just to the west is a wrinkle ridge in the mare surface, a feature that is prominent only under oblique lighting from the Sun. The nearest craters of note are Peirce to the west-northwest, and Picard to the southwest. Both of these craters lie in the Mare Crisium basin.

Macrobius (crater) crater

Macrobius is a prominent lunar impact crater located to the northwest of the Mare Crisium. Its diameter is 63 km. It was named after ancient Roman writer Macrobius. It lies on the southeast edge of the Lacus Bonitatis, a small lunar mare. The somewhat smaller crater Tisserand lies just to the east.

Debes (crater) lunar crater

Debes is a lunar impact crater that is located to the north of the Mare Crisium, in the eastern part of the Moon's near side. It was named after German cartographer Ernst Debes. It lies just to the northwest of the crater Tralles and the prominent Cleomedes.

Eimmart (crater) impact crater

Eimmart is a lunar impact crater that is located near the east-northeastern limb of the Moon, to the northeast of the Mare Crisium. The northern and eastern outer rim of this crater borders on the narrow Mare Anguis. To the northwest of Eimmart are the smaller crater Delmotte and the prominent Cleomedes.

Gerasimovich (crater) lunar crater

Gerasimovich is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies beyond the western limb, to the west-northwest of the immense Mare Orientale impact basin. The outer blanket of ejecta from this impact reaches nearly to the rim of Gerasimovich. Nearby craters of note include Houzeau to the north and the smaller Ellerman to the southeast.

References

  1. "Fahrenheit (crater)" . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
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.

Ben J. Bussey is an American planetary scientist.