Mendeleev (crater)

Mendeleev
	Oblique Apollo 16 image, facing west; (Gamma-ray spectrometer in foreground)
Coordinates	5°42′N140°54′E / 5.7°N 140.9°E
Diameter	313 km
Colongitude	224° at sunrise
Eponym	Dmitri Mendeleev

Last updated October 03, 2023

Mendeleev is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, as seen from the Earth. The southern rim of this walled plain just crosses the lunar equator. Intruding into the eastern rim of Mendeleev is the crater Schuster. Nearly on the opposite side, the smaller Hartmann intrudes into west-southwestern rim.

Description

The nearly level interior of Mendeleev contains a number of smaller crater formations which have been given names. These form a rough pentagon formation that covers much of the interior floor. Along the western inner floor, the craters Bergman to the west-northwest and Moissan to the west just make contact with the western inner wall of Mendeleev. Together with Bergman, Fischer to the north-northeast and Richards in the north of Mendeleev form the northern side of the pentagon. The figure continues with Harden near Schuster, and Benedict just to the southeast of the midpoint of Mendeleev. The largest crater within the Mendeleev basin is Mendeleev P, to the south-southwest.

The remainder of the interior floor is relatively flat, at least in comparison to the rugged blast terrain radiating away from the exterior. There are, however, a number of small craters within the interior in addition to those mentioned above. A cluster of these craters lie near the midpoint of the interior, and there are several in the southeast part of the floor. In the western half of the floor is a chain of tiny craters named the Catena Mendeleev. These form a line that trends from near the southwest part of the interior, then tangentially grazes the western rim of the crater Richards. The line of craters points directly to Tsiolkovskiy crater far to the southwest, and are thought to be secondaries from it.^[5]

In fiction

In Stanislaw Lem's More Tales of Pirx the Pilot , a story is wrapped around a fictional lunar science facility that is stationed in Mendeleev.

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 Mendeleev. In this case, the only satellite crater is Mendeleev P, which lies within southern Mendeleev itself.

Mendeleev	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
P	2.7° N	139.4° E	29 km

Related Research Articles

Anaxagoras is a young lunar impact crater that is located near the north pole of the Moon. It lies across the larger and more heavily worn crater Goldschmidt. To the south-southeast is Epigenes, and due south is the worn remains of Birmingham.

Zucchius is a prominent lunar impact crater located near the southwestern limb. Because of its location the crater appears oblong-shaped due to foreshortening. It lies just to the south-southwest of the crater Segner, and northeast of the much larger walled plain Bailly. To the southeast is Bettinus, a formation only slightly larger than Zucchius.

Zhukovskiy is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon. It forms a pair with Lebedinskiy, which is attached to the eastern rim. There are no other named craters of note in the immediate vicinity, although the immense walled plain Korolev lies farther to the southeast.

Humboldt is a large lunar impact crater that is located near the eastern limb of the Moon. Due to foreshortening this formation has an extremely oblong appearance. The actual shape of the crater is an irregular circle, with a significant indentation along the southeastern rim where the prominent crater Barnard intrudes. To the north-northwest of Humboldt is the large crater Hecataeus. Phillips is attached to the western rim. The rim of Humboldt is low, worn, and irregular in outline. The central peak forms a range on the crater floor. The floor surface contains a network of rilles forming a pattern of radial spokes and concentric arcs. There are also some dark patches located near the walls to the northeast, northwest, and southeast. There is a chain of craters leading from the northwest crater rim to a distance almost as long as the crater is wide. This formation is designated Catena Humboldt. Due to its location near the lunar limb, little detail was known about this crater until it was photographed by orbiting spacecraft.

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.

Cardanus is a lunar impact crater that is located in the western part of the Moon, in the western part of the Oceanus Procellarum. Due to its location the crater appears very oval because of foreshortening, and it is viewed almost from the side.

Eudoxus is a prominent lunar impact crater that lies to the east of the northern tip of the Montes Caucasus range. It is named after the Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus. It is located to the south of the prominent crater Aristoteles in the northern regions of the visible Moon. To the south is the ruined formation of Alexander, and the small crater Lamèch lies to the southwest.

Tsiolkovskiy is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. Named for Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, it lies in the southern hemisphere, to the west of the large crater Gagarin, and northwest of Milne. Just to the south is Waterman, with Neujmin to the south-southwest. The crater protrudes into the neighbouring Fermi, an older crater of comparable size that does not have a lava-flooded floor.

O'Day is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It intrudes into the northwestern edge of Mare Ingenii, and the rim is lower on that side. To the northwest is the crater pair of Holetschek and Sierpinski. Southwest of O'Day lies the crater Seidel. It is named in honour of the American physicist Marcus O'Day.

Korolev is a large lunar impact crater of the walled plain or basin type. It is a basin of Nectarian age.

Compton is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the east of the Mare Humboldtianum, and southwest of the walled plain Schwarzschild. To the southeast of Compton is the heavily eroded crater Swann.

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.

Carnot is a large crater in the northern part of the Moon's far side. It was named after Nicolas L. S. Carnot by the IAU in 1970.

Inghirami is a lunar impact crater that is located toward the southwestern limb of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the large walled plain Schickard. Northwest of Inghirami is the wide Vallis Inghirami, a wide, straight valley that is radial to the Mare Orientale impact basin. The valley has a length of about 140 kilometers and ends at the northern edge of the crater.

Chaplygin is a large lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon. It is located to the southeast of the huge walled plain Mendeleev, about midway between the craters Schliemann to the northeast and Marconi to the southwest. It is about the same size as Albategnius on the near side.

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.

Lebedinskiy is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is attached to the eastern outer rim of the somewhat larger crater Zhukovskiy. About two crater diameters to the east-southeast lies the smaller Engel'gardt. The satellite crater Lebedinskiy P lies in the southern indentation of terrain between Lebedinskiy and Zhukovsky, and is nearly attached to the southwest rim of Lebedinskiy.

Van den Bos is a small lunar impact crater that is joined to the south-southwestern outer rim of the slightly larger crater Tamm. About one crater diameter to the west is Vil'ev. Farther away to the east is the prominent Chaplygin, and to the south-southwest lies Marconi. van den Bos is located on the far side of the Moon and cannot be viewed directly from the Earth.

Sechenov is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the huge walled plain Hertzsprung, and to the east-southeast of the crater Timiryazev. To the south-southeast of Sechenov lies Paschen.

Tamm is a shallow lunar impact crater. It is located to the west-northwest of the much larger and more prominent crater Chaplygin. Attached to the south-southwestern outer rim of Tamm is the smaller van den Bos. There is a gap in the southern rim where these two craters are joined together.

References

↑ Mendeleev, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
↑ Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)
↑ 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 9-3.
↑ Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report, NASA Special Publication 315, 1972. Chapter 28.
↑ The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. USGS Professional Paper: 1348. Figure 9.26 B (online)

Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
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. S2CID 122125855.
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.

External links

Mendeleev at the Moon Wiki
Catena Mendeleev at the Moon Wiki
"Crater Mendeleev", Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA, February 3, 2011, retrieved 2012-03-27 – mosaic image of the Mendeleev crater from the LROC WAC.
Inside Catena Meldeleev - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Catena Mendeleev
LAC-66, chart of Mendeleev and surrounding terrain