Lyapunov (crater)

Lyapunov
	Oblique Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	26°18′N89°18′E / 26.3°N 89.3°E Coordinates: 26°18′N89°18′E / 26.3°N 89.3°E
Diameter	66 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	274° at sunrise
Eponym	Alexander M. Lyapunov

Last updated August 07, 2019

Oblique Apollo 14 Hasselblad camera image Lyapunov crater AS14-71-9889.jpg — Oblique Apollo 14 Hasselblad camera image

Lyapunov is a lunar impact crater named for Aleksandr Lyapunov that is located along the east-northeastern limb of the Moon, and is viewed from the side by observers on Earth. The eastern rim of this crater just falls into the section of the Moon called the far side, and visibility of this formation is affected by libration.

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.

Aleksandr Lyapunov Russian mathematician

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov was a Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. His surname is sometimes romanized as Ljapunov, Liapunov, Liapounoff or Ljapunow. He was the son of astronomer Mikhail Lyapunov and the brother of pianist and composer Sergei Lyapunov.

This crater is attached to the south-southeastern rim of the larger walled plain Rayleigh. It is also attached to the western rim of the much larger walled plain Joliot, a formation that lies entirely on the far side of the Moon. To the south-southwest of Lyapunov is the crater Hubble.

Rayleigh is a lunar impact crater, approximately 114 kilometers in diameter, that lies along the northeast limb of the Moon. This feature is seen edge-on from Earth, making it difficult to see much detail. In addition, libration effects can completely hide this crater from view. It lies just to the north of Lyapunov, and to the northwest of the large Joliot. Attached to its southwest rim is the smaller Urey.

Joliot is a large lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just past the eastern limb. At this location it lies in a region of the surface that comes into sight during a favorable libration, although at such times it is viewed from the side. Thus viewing this crater in detail must be done from orbit.

Hubble is a lunar impact crater that lies very near the east-northeastern limb of the Moon. At this location it is viewed almost from the side from Earth, and the visibility of this feature is affected by libration. It lies to the north of the Mare Marginis and northeast of the crater Cannon. About one crater diameter to the north-northeast is Lyapunov.

The shape of this crater's rim has been modified due to the large adjacent formations, so that it is somewhat polygonal rather than circular. The rim along the western side is less affected by reshaping, although it too is worn by impact erosion. The ejecta from nearby impacts partly covers the northern and some of the southeastern parts of the interior floor. The former forms a triangular section of rough ground that reaches to the midpoint of the floor. The remainder of the floor is relatively level and marked only by tiny craterlets.

In elementary geometry, a polygon is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain or polygonal circuit. The solid plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two together, may be called a polygon.

Note that some publications list this crater as "Liapunov".

Related Research Articles

Chamberlin is a lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, just past the southeastern limb. It lies to the southeast of the crater Jeans, and Moulton is attached to the southeastern rim of Chamberlin. This crater is located in a part of the lunar surface that has undergone resurfacing of crater interiors, producing dark-hued crater floors.

Bunsen is a lunar impact crater that lies near the northwestern limb of the Moon. It is located to the west of the Oceanus Procellarum and the crater von Braun. To the southeast is the crater Lavoisier, and to the northeast lies Gerard. Northwest of Bunsen, on the far side of the Moon, is McLaughlin. Due to its position this crater appears foreshortened when viewed from the Earth, and its visibility is affected by libration.

Blanchard is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just behind the southwestern limb. It lies to the south-southwest of the crater Arrhenius, and northwest of Pilâtre. Further to the south is the rugged terrain to the north of the walled plain Hausen.

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.

Gemma Frisius is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon. It was named after Dutch physician Gemma Frisius. It lies to the north of the walled plain Maurolycus, and southeast of the smaller crater Poisson. The crater Goodacre is attached to the northeast rim.

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.

Lexell is a lunar impact crater that lies across the southeastern rim of the huge walled plain Deslandres, in the southern part of the Moon. It was named after Swedish-Russian mathematician and astronomer Anders Johan Lexell. To the northeast is the walled plain Walther, and to the south is Orontius, another walled plain.

Darwin is a lunar impact crater of the type categorised as a walled plain. It lies in the southeastern part of the Moon, and is sufficiently close to the limb to appear significantly foreshortened when viewed from the Earth. Attached to its southern rim is Lamarck. To the northeast is the dark-floored crater Crüger.

Fermi is a large lunar impact crater of the category named a walled plain. It was named after Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. It lies on the far side of the Moon and can not be viewed from the Earth. Thus this feature must be viewed from an orbiting spacecraft.

Epigenes is a lunar impact crater that is located in the north part of the Moon, and is sufficiently close to the northern limb to appear significantly foreshortened from the Earth. It lies just to the northwest of the remains of the walled plain W. Bond. Due north of Epigenes is Goldschmidt, and the ruined crater Birmingham lies just to the southwest.

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.

Clairaut is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon's near side. It lies directly to the south of the crater Maurolycus and southeast of Barocius. Just to the southwest is Cuvier.

d'Alembert is a large lunar impact crater located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon, to the northeast of the somewhat smaller walled plain Campbell. Astride the southwest rim of d'Alembert is Slipher. To the north is the crater Yamamoto, and to the south-southwest lies Langevin. This walled plain has the same diameter as Clavius on the near side, making it one of the largest such formations on the Moon.

Dove is a small lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged lunar highlands in the southeastern part of the Moon. It lies to the north of the prominent crater Pitiscus.

Curie is a large lunar impact crater, much of which lies on the far side of the Moon as seen from the Earth. The western rim projects into the near side of the Moon, as defined by the selenographic coordinate system. However the visibility of this formation depends on the effects of libration, so that it can be brought fully into view or completely hidden depending on the orientation of the Moon. When visible, however, it is seen nearly from the side, limiting the amount of detail that can be observed.

Hagecius is a lunar impact crater in the southeastern part of the Moon's near side. It was named after 16th century Czech naturalist Tadeáš Hájek. This crater forms a triangular formation with the craters Rosenberger to the north-northwest and Nearch to the west-northwest. Like both of these craters, Hagecius has undergone erosion from subsequent impacts, and its outer rim is worn and irregular. The southeastern rim in particular is overlaid by three smaller craters designated Hagecius C, B, and G.

Douglass is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the crater Frost and south-southwest of the large walled plain Landau.

Finsen is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere, on the Moon's far side. It is attached to the southeastern exterior of the walled plain Leibnitz, and the ejecta from Finsen covers the southeastern part of Leibnitz's interior floor. To the southwest of Finsen is another walled plain, Von Kármán, partly overlain by Leibnitz.

Fridman is the remains of a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies due south of the huge walled plain Hertzsprung, and is attached to the northeastern rim of the crater Ioffe.

References

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.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

Oblique Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	26°18′N89°18′E / 26.3°N 89.3°E / 26.3; 89.3 Coordinates: 26°18′N89°18′E / 26.3°N 89.3°E / 26.3; 89.3
Diameter	66 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	274° at sunrise
Eponym	Alexander M. Lyapunov