Fleming (crater)

Last updated
Fleming
Fleming crater AS16-M-3001 ASU.jpg
Oblique Apollo 16 mapping camera image
Coordinates 15°00′N109°36′E / 15.0°N 109.6°E / 15.0; 109.6
Diameter 106 km
Colongitude 252° at sunrise
Eponym Alexander Fleming and Williamina Fleming
Oblique Apollo 14 Hasselblad camera image Fleming crater AS14-71-9889.jpg
Oblique Apollo 14 Hasselblad camera image
Oblique Apollo 11 Hasselblad camera image, facing northeast Fleming crater AS11-43-6359.jpg
Oblique Apollo 11 Hasselblad camera image, facing northeast

Fleming is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the Moon's far side, and cannot be seen from the Earth. It lies about a crater diameter to the east-northeast of Hertz, and to the northwest of Lobachevskiy.

Contents

The low rim of this formation is heavily eroded and overlaid by multiple smaller craters. The most notable of these is Fleming along the southern rim, while another, only slightly smaller crater cuts across the lower eastern rim. The interior floor is also marked by a number of small impacts and a few ghost-crater rims.

The crater was named after Alexander and Williamina Fleming. Prior to naming in 1970 by the IAU, [1] this crater was known as Crater 203. [2]

Fleming is one of the largest craters of Nectarian age. [3]

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 Fleming.

FlemingLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
D17.0° N114.0° E25 km
N12.7° N108.8° E24 km
W18.0° N106.2° E50 km
Y18.2° N108.2° E30 km

References

  1. Fleming, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  2. Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)
  3. The geologic history of the Moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348. By Don E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 9-4.