Smithson (crater)

Last updated
Smithson
Smithson crater AS15-M-2119.jpg
Apollo 15 mapping camera image
Coordinates 2°24′N53°36′E / 2.4°N 53.6°E / 2.4; 53.6 Coordinates: 2°24′N53°36′E / 2.4°N 53.6°E / 2.4; 53.6
Diameter 5 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 308° at sunrise
Eponym James Smithson
Apollo 15 panoramic camera image Smithson crater AS15-P-0116.jpg
Apollo 15 panoramic camera image

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.

Lunar craters

Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, almost all of which were formed by impacts.

Impact crater Circular depression on a solid astronomical body formed by a hypervelocity impact of a smaller object

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 Fecunditatis lunar mare

Mare Fecunditatis is a lunar mare which is 840 km in diameter.

Related Research Articles

Pupin (crater) lunar crater

Pupin is a tiny lunar impact crater located in the eastern part of the Mare Imbrium. It was named after Serbian-American physicist Mihajlo Pupin. It lies to the southeast of the crater Timocharis, and was identified as Timocharis K prior to being renamed by the IAU. The mare near Pupin is otherwise devoid of significant impact craters, and is nearly featureless except for a faint dusting of ray material.

Aryabhata (crater) lunar crater

Aryabhata, named after Indian astronomer Aryabhata, is the remnant of a lunar impact crater located in the eastern Mare Tranquillitatis. The crater has been almost submerged by lava-flow, and now only an arc-shaped ridge formed from the eastern half of the rim remains above the lunar mare. This crater was previously identified as Maskelyne E before being named by the IAU in 1979. Maskelyne itself is to the southwest.

Carlini (crater) impact crater

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.

Bobillier (crater) lunar crater

Bobillier is a tiny, cup-shaped lunar impact crater in the southwest part of Mare Serenitatis. It was named after French geometer Étienne Bobillier in 1976. It lies to the north-northwest of the crater Bessel. To the south and west is a wrinkle ridge designated Dorsum Buckland. Bobillier was previously identified as Bessel E.

Zähringer (crater) lunar crater

Zähringer is a small lunar impact crater located near the southeast fringes of Mare Tranquillitatis. To the northeast is the flooded crater Lawrence, and to the southeast are the Montes Secchi mountains and the crater Secchi. Farther to the east lies Taruntius. Zähringer is a circular, bowl-shaped formation with a small interior floor at the midpoint of the sloping inner walls. It is not markedly worn by subsequent impacts.

Amontons (crater) lunar crater

Amontons is a tiny lunar impact crater in the western half of the Mare Fecunditatis. It is a circular, cup-shaped formation that has been excavated out of the level surface by the impact, and is the same dark hue as the surrounding mare. When the sun is at a low angle, multiple ghost-craters are visible in the mare surface to the south-southeast and north of it.

Al-Bakri (crater) lunar crater

Al-Bakri is a small lunar impact crater on the northwest edge of Mare Tranquillitatis. It is named after the Spanish Arab geographer and historian Abu Abdullah al-Bakri. It is just south of the eastern arm of the Montes Haemus that borders the Mare Serenitatis to the north. To the east-northeast is the prominent crater Plinius. South of the crater are the rilles of the Rimae Maclear.

Asada (crater) lunar crater

Asada is a small lunar impact crater located at the northern edge of Mare Fecunditatis, to the northeast of the crater Taruntius. It is a circular crater formation with inner walls that slope down toward a small central floor at the midpoint. Asada was designated Taruntius A prior to being named by the IAU.

Cameron (crater) lunar crater

Cameron is a small lunar impact crater that lies across the northwest rim of the crater Taruntius. It was named after American astronomer Robert Curry Cameron, by his wife, lunar specialist Winifred Cameron. This formation is circular and cup-shaped, with no particular distinguishing features. It was previously designated Taruntius C.

Carrillo (crater) lunar crater

Carrillo is a small lunar impact crater located near the eastern limb of the Moon. In this location the crater is subject to lunar libration effects, and appears highly oval due to foreshortening. It is located on the slope of highlands on the west side of Mare Smythii, and its inner wall is wider on the western side than to the east.

Curtis (crater) lunar crater

Curtis is a very small lunar impact crater that lies in the western Mare Crisium, to the east of the crater Picard. It is a circular, cup-shaped formation that is otherwise undistinguished. It was named after American astronomer Heber D. Curtis in 1973. In the past it was designated Picard Z.

Taruntius (crater) impact crater

Taruntius is a lunar impact crater on the northwestern edge of Mare Fecunditatis. It was named after ancient Roman philosopher, mathematician and astrologer Lucius Tarutius Firmanus. To the northwest is the lava-flooded crater Lawrence, and to the north lie the craters Watts and da Vinci.

Bohnenberger (crater) impact crater

Bohnenberger is a lunar impact crater that lies near the east edge of the Mare Nectaris, in the foothills of the Montes Pyrenaeus mountain range that forms the perimeter of the mare. To the east beyond the mountains is the larger crater Colombo. The crater has a low rim along the north wall, and the floor is somewhat irregular with a ridge crossing the floor. There is a small crater along the western inner wall.

Fedorov (crater) lunar crater

Fedorov is a lunar geologic feature located in the western Mare Imbrium. It was named after Russian rocket scientist A. P. Fyodorov. It lies east-northeast of the crater Diophantus, and southeast of Delisle. About 20 kilometers to the south-southeast is the slightly larger formation of Artsimovich.

Secchi (lunar crater) lunar crater

Secchi is a small lunar impact crater formation on the northwest edge of Mare Fecunditatis. It was named after the 19th-century Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi. To the northeast is the crater Taruntius. The western rim is joined with a section of the minor Montes Secchi range. The rim of this crater has been opened in the northern and southern ends, leaving two curved ridges facing each other across the crater floor. To the south is a pair of rilles designated the Rimae Secchi. These lie near the edge of the mare, and have a combined length of about 40 kilometers.

Atwood (crater) lunar crater

Atwood is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the Mare Fecunditatis, to the northwest of the prominent crater Langrenus. It forms a triple-crater formation with Naonobu attached to the north rim and Bilharz near the west rim.

Watts (crater) lunar crater

Watts is a small lunar impact crater that is located at the extreme northern edge of the Mare Fecunditatis. It was named after American astronomer Chester Burleigh Watts. Just one crater diameter to the northwest is the irregular da Vinci. Farther to the south is the larger crater Taruntius.

Lawrence (crater) lunar crater

Lawrence is a lunar impact crater that is located on a section of terrain to the east of Mare Tranquillitatis and northwest of Mare Fecunditatis. It was named after American physicist and Nobel laureate Ernest Lawrence and American astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.. To the southeast is the larger crater Taruntius. The rille designated Rima Cauchy crosses the eastern part of the Mare Tranquillitatis and reaches as far as the northern rim of Lawrence.

Eckert (crater) impact crater

Eckert is a tiny, isolated lunar impact crater in the northern part of the Mare Crisium. This crater forms a circular pit in the dark surface of the surrounding lunar mare. Just to the west is a wrinkle ridge in the mare surface, a feature that is prominent only under oblique lighting from the Sun. The nearest craters of note are Peirce to the west-northwest, and Picard to the southwest. Both of these craters lie in the Mare Crisium basin.

Courtney (crater) lunar crater

Courtney is a tiny lunar impact crater on the Mare Imbrium, a lunar mare in the northwest quadrant of the Moon. It lies about two crater diameters to the northwest of Euler, in an otherwise isolated stretch of the mare. The dark surface in this region is marked by Euler's ray material. The name is an English male name.

References

Ewen Whitaker British astronomer

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.

NASA space-related agency of the United States government

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.

United States Geological Survey Scientific agency of the United States government

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.