Stefan (crater)

Stefan

Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image, facing west
Coordinates	46°20′N108°46′W / 46.33°N 108.77°W / 46.33; -108.77
Diameter	112.18 km (69.71 mi)
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	110° at sunrise
Eponym	Joseph Stefan

LRO mosaic

Another oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image, facing northwest

Stefan is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the northwestern limb. Attached to the western rim is the slightly smaller crater Wegener, and close to the eastern rim is Rynin.

As with many craters of this size on the Moon, the outer rim has been worn by impact erosion and the edge and inner wall are generally pitted with small craterlets. The southern edge of the rim in particular has been damaged by impacts, and is overlain by the satellite crater Stefan L. This bowl-shaped crater lies at the center of a small ray system, which is indicative of a relatively young impact.

The interior floor of Stefan is a generally level surface that is marked by several impacts. The most notable is a ring-shaped crater rim projecting up through the southern half of the floor. Near the midpoint is a low hill, possibly the buried remnant of a central peak.

Prior to formal naming by the IAU in 1970, ^[1] Stefan was called Crater 100. ^[2]

Stefan lies at the approximate margin of the Coulomb-Sarton Basin, a 530 km wide impact crater of Pre-Nectarian age.

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 Stefan.

Stefan	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
L	44.6° N	107.7° W	26 km

References

1. Stefan, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
2. Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A), 2nd Edition October 1967

• Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
• Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS . Retrieved 2007-08-05.
• 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.