Palisa (crater)

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Palisa
Palisa crater AS16-M-1678.jpg
Apollo 16 image
Coordinates 9°24′S7°12′W / 9.4°S 7.2°W / -9.4; -7.2
Diameter 33 km
Depth 0.9 km
Colongitude 7° at sunrise
Eponym Johann Palisa

Palisa is the remnant of a lunar impact crater that is located to the west of the walled plain Ptolemaeus. It lies to the north-northeast of the crater Davy, and is attached to the lava-flooded satellite crater Davy Y by a wide break in the southwest rim. The crater is named after the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa. [1]

Contents

The rim of Palisa is worn and eroded, especially in the western half where there are multiple gaps that join the crater floor to the Mare Nubium to the west. The interior is nearly flat, and marked only by a pair of tiny craterlets in the southwest gap. The larger of this crater pair is designated Palisa P. Additional satellite craterlets D, A, and W lie just outside the northeast rim.

Satellite craters

Palisa crater and its satellite craters taken from Earth in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory with the telescopes Meade LX200 14" and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1 Palisa lunar crater map.jpg
Palisa crater and its satellite craters taken from Earth in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory with the telescopes Meade LX200 14" and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Palisa.

PalisaLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
A9.0° S6.7° W5 km
C7.7° S6.4° W9 km
D8.6° S6.9° W8 km
E8.4° S5.7° W18 km
P9.6° S7.3° W5 km
T8.2° S8.2° W12 km
W9.1° S6.3° W4 km

References

  1. "Palisa (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.