Focas (lunar crater)

Last updated
Focas
Focas crater WAC.jpg
LRO WAC image
Coordinates 33°42′S93°55′W / 33.7°S 93.91°W / -33.7; -93.91 Coordinates: 33°42′S93°55′W / 33.7°S 93.91°W / -33.7; -93.91
Diameter 10 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 94° at sunrise
Eponym Ionnas Focas

Focas is a small lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just past the southwestern limb. In this location the crater is occasionally brought into view due to libration, but not much detail can be seen because the crater is viewed from the side.

The crater is situated in the wide valley between the ring-shaped Montes Rook in the north and Montes Cordillera range in the south. These ranges form a double-ring around the Mare Orientale impact basin. The crater is located toward the southern end of this immense feature, just to the north of the Montes Cordillera range. Focas is a relatively isolated crater, with the nearest craters of note being the WrightShaler crater pair some distance to the east along the same interior edge of the Montes Cordillera.

This is a circular crater with an interior floor about half the total diameter. It is symmetrical in form, with only some slight appearance of wear along the rim. The interior floor contains no features or impacts of note.

Focas Crater is named after Jean-Henri Focas (1909-1969), a Greco-French astronomer.

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 Focas.

FocasLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
U32.7° S98.5° W10 km

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Wright (lunar crater)

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Chalonge (crater)

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Steklov (crater)

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Grachev (crater)

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Kearons (crater)

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Lents (crater)

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Leuschner (crater)

Leuschner is a lunar impact crater that is located on the Moon's far side, to the northwest of the Montes Cordillera. It lies to the north of the crater Grachev, in the outer skirt of ejecta surrounding the Mare Orientale impact basin. This is a circular crater with a rim that has only been lightly eroded by subsequent impacts. Within the interior floor is a central ridge formation.

Lewis (crater)

Lewis is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies along the western edge of the Montes Cordillera mountains that surround the Mare Orientale impact basin. This crater has been heavily disrupted by the formation of the basin, and it is covered by ejecta from the impact leaving only an uneven depression in the surface. The outer rim is roughly circular, and the interior is uneven.

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