MacMillan (crater)

MacMillan
	Apollo 15 mapping camera image
Coordinates	24°12′N7°48′E / 24.2°N 7.8°E Coordinates: 24°12′N7°48′E / 24.2°N 7.8°E
Diameter	8 km
Depth	0.4 km
Colongitude	8° at sunrise
Eponym	William D. MacMillan

Last updated August 08, 2019

MacMillan is a bowl-shaped lunar impact crater on the eastern fringes of the Mare Imbrium. It was named after American mathematician and astronomer William Duncan MacMillan.^[1] It is located just to the southwest of a lone rise, near the southwestern edge of the Montes Archimedes. This is a cup-shaped depression in the surface with an interior albedo that matches the nearby lunar mare. The edges of the rim have a somewhat higher albedo. It shows some indications of a concentric crater.^[2]

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.

Mare Imbrium is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a proto-planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Basaltic lava later flooded the giant crater to form the flat volcanic plain seen today. The basin's age has been estimated using uranium–lead dating methods to 3938 ± 4 million years ago, the diameter of the impactor has been estimated to be 250 ± 25 km. The Moon's maria have fewer features than other areas of the Moon because molten lava pooled in the craters and formed a relatively smooth surface. Mare Imbrium is not as flat as it was originally because later events have altered its surface.

This crater was previously identified as Archimedes F.

Related Research Articles

Archimedes is a large lunar impact crater on the eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium. Its diameter is 81 km.

Bancroft is a small, bowl-shaped impact crater located to the southwest of Archimedes on the Mare Imbrium. A wide, shallow depression runs from the rim of Bancroft southeast to the Montes Archimedes. There are some clefts at the edge of the mare to the west and southwest of the crater. Other prominent craters are two small craters nearly to the west named Feuillée and Beer.

Golgi is a tiny lunar impact crater located in the Oceanus Procellarum, over 150 kilometers to the north of the crater Schiaparelli. It is a circular, cup-shaped impact formation with an interior albedo that is higher than the surrounding dark lunar mare. This crater was previously designated Schiaparelli D before being given a name by the IAU.

Ångström is a small lunar impact crater located on the border between Oceanus Procellarum to the west and Mare Imbrium to the east. To the south is a formation of mountains rising out of the mare named the Montes Harbinger. To the east are some wrinkle ridges named the Dorsum Bucher and Dorsa Argand. This crater is bowl-shaped, with a circular rim and inner walls that slope down to the small central floor. It has a higher albedo than the surrounding maria.

Beer is a relatively small lunar impact crater located on the Mare Imbrium, to the east of the crater Timocharis. It was named after German astronomer Wilhelm W. Beer. Just to the northwest is the matching twin Feuillée.

Bessarion is a lunar impact crater located near the southwest edge of Mare Imbrium. It is named after Greek scholar Johannes Bessarion. Some distance to the east is the crater T. Mayer. Bessarion is a bowl-shaped crater with a low central rise and a higher albedo than the maria, making it a brighter feature when the sun is overhead.

Carlini is a small lunar impact crater located in the Mare Imbrium. It was named after Italian astronomer Francesco Carlini. The crater is bowl-shaped with a small central floor. It has a higher albedo than the surrounding mare, making it prominent due to its isolated location. To the south is a wrinkle ridge named Dorsum Zirkel, and farther south lies the peak Mons La Hire.

Smithson is a small lunar impact crater located in the northeast part of Mare Fecunditatis. It is a circular, cup-shaped feature with a slightly higher albedo than the surrounding, dark lunar mare. It was previously identified as Taruntius N before being renamed by the IAU. Taruntius itself lies to the west-northwest, in the northwestern part of the same mare.

Borel is a tiny lunar impact crater located in the southeast part of Mare Serenitatis. It was named after French mathematician Émile Borel. To the northeast is the crater Le Monnier and to the southeast is the crater Abetti. Borel was previously identified as Le Monnier C.

Biot is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater located in the southern reaches of the Mare Fecunditatis. It is named after French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Biot."Biot (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program. It is a circular formation with a sharp-edged rim that has not been significantly worn. The inner walls slope down to a relatively small interior floor. The albedo of the wide inner walls is higher than the surrounding lunar mare, giving it a light hue. To the southeast is the crater Wrottesley.

C. Herschel is a small lunar impact crater that lies on the western part of Mare Imbrium. It is named after British astronomer Caroline Herschel. It is a circular, bowl-shaped formation that has not undergone significant erosion. The interior floor has the same low albedo as the surrounding lunar mare. To the south-southwest is the similar crater Heis. C. Herschel lies on a wrinkle ridge of the lunar mare named the Dorsum Heim.

Hortensius is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater that is located in the northern part of the Mare Insularum. It was named after 17th century Dutch astronomer Martin van den Hove. It lies some distance to the west-southwest of the prominent crater Copernicus. Hortensius is circular and cup-shaped, with a small floor at the midpoint of the sloping interior walls. The interior has a higher albedo than the surrounding lunar mare, despite traces of ray material from Copernicus.

Bellot is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the southwest edge of Mare Fecunditatis. It lies between the craters Goclenius to the northwest and Crozier to the southeast. To the southwest is Colombo, and to the west is Magelhaens.

Buys-Ballot is an oddly-shaped lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It lies just to the northwest of the small lunar mare named Lacus Luxuriae, and southeast of the crater Freundlich. Other nearby craters of note are Anderson to the southwest and Dante to the northeast.

Darney is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the region of the Moon where the Mare Nubium joins the Oceanus Procellarum. It was named after French astronomer Maurice Darney. To the south is the lava-flooded crater Lubiniezky. The southern rim of Darney is attached to a series of low ridges that extend to the southwest.

Cayley is a small lunar impact crater that is located in a lava-flooded region to the west of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was named after the 19th century British mathematician Arthur Cayley. It lies to the northwest of the smaller crater De Morgan and the larger D'Arrest. West and slightly north of Cayley is Whewell, a crater of about the same dimensions. To the north is a linear rille designated Rima Ariadaeus, which follows a course to the east-southeast.

Crozier is a lunar impact crater that is located on the southwest edge of Mare Fecunditatis, a lunar mare in the eastern part of the Moon's near side. It lies to the east-northeast of the prominent crater Colombo, and southeast of the small crater Bellot.

Dunthorne is a small lunar impact crater that is located to the northwest of the small lunar mare called Palus Epidemiarum, in the southwest part of the Moon's near side. It was named after British astronomer Richard Dunthorne. It lies to the southwest of the crater Campanus, east of Vitello. Due south is Ramsden.

Kiess is a lunar impact crater next to the southern border of the Mare Smythii, near the eastern limb of the Moon. It is located to the east of the crater Kästner, and to the north of Dale and Kreiken.

Firsov is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located to due south of the crater Lobachevskiy, and to the northwest of Abul Wáfa. The circular rim of this crater has a small outward bulge along the southern edge, and smaller bulges along the western side. The inner walls have slumped to form talus piles along the base. The low-albedo interior floor is nearly level and featureless.

References

↑ "MacMillan (crater)" . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
↑ Wood, C. A. (1978). "Lunar Concentric Craters". Lunar and Planetary Science. IX: 1264–1266. Bibcode:1978LPI.....9.1264W.

Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature (PDF). NASA RP-1097. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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.

Ben J. Bussey is an American planetary scientist.

External links

Beer Lunar Topographic Orthophotomap, LTO41A4, May 1974

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[1] "MacMillan (crater)" . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.

[Wood_1978_conc-2] Wood, C. A. (1978). "Lunar Concentric Craters". Lunar and Planetary Science. IX: 1264–1266. Bibcode:1978LPI.....9.1264W.

Apollo 15 mapping camera image
Coordinates	24°12′N7°48′E / 24.2°N 7.8°E / 24.2; 7.8 Coordinates: 24°12′N7°48′E / 24.2°N 7.8°E / 24.2; 7.8
Diameter	8 km
Depth	0.4 km
Colongitude	8° at sunrise
Eponym	William D. MacMillan