Coordinates | 5°06′N0°06′W / 5.1°N 0.1°W |
---|---|
Diameter | 58 km |
Depth | 1.8 km |
Colongitude | 0° at sunrise |
Eponym | Roderick I. Murchison |
Murchison is a lunar impact crater on the north edge of the Sinus Medii. It was named in honour of the geologist Sir Roderick Murchison. [1] It shares a section of rim with the crater Pallas. To the southeast on the mare is the circular crater Chladni, and to the northeast is Ukert. Farther to the east is the prominent Triesnecker. Murchison lies astride the lunar zenith line, i.e. the starting longitude of the selenographic coordinate system.
The wall of Murchison is heavily worn and has completely disappeared in a wide gap to the southeast. The rim is most intact along the northeast part of the crater, but even there it is indented and irregular. Only a ridge remains of the rim shared by Pallas and Murchison, with gaps to the north and south. A low ridge from the east wall runs south to join the rim of Chladni. The crater floor has been flooded with lava and joins the Sinus Medii through the wide gap in the southeast wall.
By convention, these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Murchison.
Murchison | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
---|---|---|---|
T | 4.4° N | 0.1° E | 3 km |
Fra Mauro is the worn remnant of a walled lunar plain. It is part of the surrounding Fra Mauro formation, being located to the northeast of Mare Cognitum and southeast of Mare Insularum. Attached to the southern rim are the co-joined craters Bonpland and Parry, which intrude into the formation forming inward-bulging walls. The crater is named after Italian geographer Fra Mauro.
Wargentin is an unusual lunar impact crater which has been filled to its rim by a basaltic lava flow, forming a raised plateau. When the lava flow occurred, it erupted from within the crater walls and proceeded to accumulate until overrunning the lowest portion of the rim. Some blockage then prevented the lava flow from returning to equilibrium. Since the time when this occurred, some ejecta has been deposited across the top, giving the surface a higher albedo than is typical for deposits of basalt.
Dembowski is a lunar impact crater located to the southeast of the Sinus Medii. Its diameter is 26 km. It was named after Italian astronomer Ercole Dembowski. To the east are the craters Agrippa and Godin, to the southwest is Rhaeticus.
Aitken is a large lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, named for Robert Grant Aitken, an American astronomer specializing in binary stellar systems. It is located to the southeast of the crater Heaviside, and north of the unusual formation Van de Graaff. Attached to the southwest rim is Vertregt. To the southeast is the smaller Bergstrand.
Hipparchus is the degraded remnant of a lunar impact crater. It was named after the Greek astronomer, geographer and mathematician Hipparchus. It is located to the southeast of Sinus Medii, near the center of the visible Moon. To the south is the prominent crater Albategnius, and to the southwest lies Ptolemaeus, a feature of comparable dimensions to Hipparchus. Horrocks lies entirely within the northeast rim of the crater. Halley is attached to the south rim, and Hind lies to the southeast. To the north-northeast is the bowl-shaped Pickering, and the flooded Saunder is located off the northeast rim. High-resolution images of Hipparchus were obtained by Lunar Orbiter 5 in 1967.
Bode is a small crater located near the central region of the Moon, to the northwest of the joined craters Pallas and Murchison. It lies on a region of raised surface between the Mare Vaporum to the northeast, Sinus Aestuum to the west, and Sinus Medii to the southeast. The crater was named after German astronomer Johann Elert Bode.
Chladni is a small lunar impact crater that lies near the northwest edge of Sinus Medii, in the central part of the Moon.
Pallas is a heavily eroded lunar impact crater located to the north of the Sinus Medii. It was named after the German-born Russian natural historian Peter Simon Pallas. To the northwest is the smaller but less worn crater Bode. Pallas shares a low wall with the crater Murchison that is attached to the southeast, and there are two gaps in the shared rim.
Triesnecker is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located in the Sinus Medii, near the central part of the Moon's near side. Its diameter is 25 km. It was named after Austrian astronomer Franz de Paula Triesnecker. It is located to the north-northwest of the crater Rhaeticus, and to the east-southeast of the flooded Murchison.
Flammarion is a lunar impact crater on the south edge of Sinus Medii. Its diameter is 76 km. It is named after the French astronomer Camille Flammarion. It is located between the crater Mösting to the northwest and Herschel to the southeast. The bowl-shaped Mösting A intersects the western rim of Flammarion.
Julius Caesar is a lava-flooded lunar impact crater with a low, irregular, and heavily worn wall. Its diameter is 85 km. It was named after Roman statesman Julius Caesar. It is located to the west of Mare Tranquillitatis, and directly southeast of the crater Manilius on the Mare Vaporum. To the east is the rounded Sosigenes.
Bianchini is a lunar impact crater that lies along the northern Jura Mountains that ring the Sinus Iridum, in the northwestern part of the near side of the Moon. It was named after Italian astronomer Francesco Bianchini. The impact of this crater near the edge of the Jura Mountains deposited some material into the Sinus Iridum floor.
King is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, and can not be viewed directly from Earth. The crater was named after Arthur Scott King and Edward Skinner King in 1970. Prior to that, this crater was known as Crater 211. It forms a pair with Ibn Firnas, which is only slightly larger and is attached to the northeast rim of King. To the northwest is the crater Lobachevskiy, and Guyot is located an equal distance to the north-northwest.
Davy is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the eastern edge of the Mare Nubium. It was named after British physicist Humphry Davy. It overlies the lava-flooded remains of the satellite crater Davy Y to the east, a formation which contains a crater chain designated Catena Davy. To the southeast of Davy is the prominent crater Alphonsus.
D'Arrest is a lunar impact crater that is located in the lava-flooded region to the west of the Mare Tranquillitatis. It is named after the German astronomer Heinrich Louis d'Arrest. It lies to the southeast of the crater Agrippa and northwest of Delambre. Just to the northeast are the small, bowl-shaped craters De Morgan and Cayley.
Biela is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged highlands of the southeastern Moon. It is named after Austrian astronomer Wilhelm von Biela. The crater lies to the east of Rosenberger, to the southeast of the Watt–Steinheil double crater.
Ukert is a lunar impact crater that lies on a strip of rugged ground between Mare Vaporum to the north and Sinus Medii in the south. It was named after German historian Friedrich August Ukert. It is located to the north-northwest of the crater Triesnecker and northeast of the crater pair of Pallas and Murchison.
Oppolzer is the remnant of a lunar impact crater that is located on the southern edge of Sinus Medii, along the meridian of the Moon. Its diameter is 41 km. It was named after the Austrian astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer. It is located within one crater diameter of the origin of the selenographic coordinate system at 0° N, 0° W. Attached to the surviving remnants of the southeast rim is the crater Réaumur. To the west-southwest is the lava-flooded walled plain Flammarion.
da Vinci is a lunar impact crater that is located in the eastern part of the Moon, to the northwest of Mare Fecunditatis. It lies along the eastern shore of the Sinus Concordiae, a bay along the eastern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis. Nearby craters include Watts to the southeast and Lawrence to the southwest, both smaller in dimension than da Vinci.
La Pérouse is a lunar impact crater that is located near the eastern limb of the Moon. It lies northwest of the larger crater Ansgarius, and to the east of Kapteyn. This crater appears foreshortened due to its location, but the rim is nearly circular when viewed from orbit.