Tsu Chung-Chi (crater)

Tsu Chung-Chi
	Oblique Apollo 16 image, facing east
Coordinates	17°18′S145°06′E / 17.3°S 145.1°E Coordinates: 17°18′S145°06′E / 17.3°S 145.1°E
Diameter	28 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	215° at sunrise
Eponym	Zu Chongzhi

Last updated August 07, 2019

Zu Chong-Zhi is also the name of asteroid 1964 VO1; see also 1888 Zu Chong-Zhi.

Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image Tsu Chung-Chi crater 5124 med.jpg — Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image

Tsu Chung-Chi is a relatively small lunar impact crater on the Moon's far side. It lies to the west-southwest of the crater Leonov, and to the northeast of the large walled plain Mendeleev. To the north of Tsu Chung-Chi is the Mare Moscoviense, one of the few maria on the Moon's far side.

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

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.

Earth's Moon is an astronomical body that orbits the planet and acts as its only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits. The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io, the second-densest satellite in the Solar System among those whose densities are known.

This is a bowl-shaped crater formation that is slightly elongated to the northwest. It has undergone some erosion, with a small, cup-shaped crater intruding slightly into the southern rim and several tiny craterlets within the interior. The inner walls are simple slopes down to the interior floor. This crater is otherwise undistinguished.

This feature - one of the about 500 features identified on the photographs of the far side of the Moon made by Luna 3 in 1959 - was named after the Chinese mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi. According to the memoirs of Boris Chertok, who was closely involved with the Luna 3 mission, some fairly complicated politics was involved in picking the name:

Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first-ever mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. Though it returned rather poor pictures by later standards, the historic, never-before-seen views of the far side of the Moon caused excitement and interest when they were published around the world, and a tentative Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was created after image processing improved the pictures.

Zu Chongzhi Chinese mathematician-astronomer

Zu Chongzhi, courtesy name Wenyuan, was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, politician, inventor, and writer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. He was most notable for calculating pi as between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, a record which would not be surpassed for 800 years.

Boris Evseyevich Chertok was a Russian electrical engineer and the control systems designer in the Soviet Union's space program, and later the Roscosmos in Russia.

Finally, the Keldysh Commission received a go-ahead, and obtained a decision of the Praesidium of the Academy to name the craters after prominent scientists and cultural figures: Giordano Bruno, Jules Verne, Hertz, Kurchatov, Lobachevsky, Maxwell, Mendeleev, Pasteur, Popov, Skłodowska-Curie, Zu Chongzhi and Edison.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1946), President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1961–1975), three times Hero of Socialist Labor, fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1968). He was one of the key figures behind Soviet space program. Among scientific circles of USSR Keldysh was known with epithet "the Chief Theoretician" in analogy with epithet "the Chief Designer" used for Sergey Korolyov.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov was a Russian physicist, who was one of the first persons to invent a radio receiving device.
Sklodowska (Skłodowska) is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It lies just past the southeastern limb, and can sometimes be viewed from Earth under favorable conditions of libration and illumination. The crater is located to the northeast of the older walled plain Curie, and to the southwest of Pasteur, another walled plain.
As reported by "reliable sources", the most controversial figure was Zu Chongzhi. This 5th-century mathematician was said to be famous in China, but none of my mathematician friends was able to explain what he was famous for. But we could not offend China, a great and friendly country. Central Committee's instructions demanded that the list included an American and a Chinese. It was easy to pick an American - everyone was fine with Edison. But concerning the Chinese, I was told that we had to consult with the embassy, which, in its turn, sent a request to Beijing. ^[1]

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 Tsu Chung-Chi.

Tsu Chung-Chi	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
W	18.5° N	143.3° E	24 km

Related Research Articles

Euclides is a small lunar impact crater located near the eastern edge of Oceanus Procellarum, about 30 kilometers to the west of the Montes Riphaeus mountains. The mare in the vicinity is devoid of significant craters, but to the west is an area of low rises. The crater is named after the Greek mathematician Euclid.

Abul Wafa is an impact crater located near the lunar equator on the far side of the Moon, named after the Persian mathematician and astronomer Abu al-Wafa' Buzjani. To the east are the crater pair Ctesibius and Heron. In the northeast lies the larger crater King, and to the southwest is Vesalius.

Boguslawsky is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southern lunar limb. It lies to the northwest of the slightly larger crater Demonax, and southwest of the concentric crater Boussingault. Due to its location, this crater appears very oblong in shape because of foreshortening.

Cavalerius is a prominent lunar impact crater that lies on the western edge of the Oceanus Procellarum lunar mare on the west part of the visible Moon. It nearly joins the northern rim of Hevelius to the south.

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.

Artamonov is a lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. The eroded outer rim of Artamonov does not have the circular shape of most lunar craters, and instead has the overall shape of three or four merged craters. The largest of these formations is in the south, with smaller circular bulges to the north and east.

Benedict is a small, bowl-shaped crater that lies on the floor of the walled basin Mendeleev. It is located near the lunar equator on the far side of the Moon from the Earth.

Bergman is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It was named after Swedish astronomer Torbern O. Bergman. It is located on the interior floor of the walled plain Mendeleev, and is attached to the edge of the inner wall to the northwest. On the same walled basin are the craters Moissan to the south and Richards to the west. The rim of Bergman is roughly circular, and the formation is generally bowl-shaped. The western half of the interior floor is covered with a slope of scree, leaving a small level floor on the eastern side.

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.

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.

Dziewulski is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies between the craters Edison to the north and Popov to the south. The outer rim of this crater has been considerably worn by impacts, particularly along the southwest quadrant where the satellite crater Dziewulski Q overlies the rim and the interior floor. The northern rim is also heavily disrupted, and several small crater lie along the southeast rim. The interior floor and surrounding terrain has been resurfaced.

Edison is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located just behind the north-northeastern limb of the Moon, a region that is sometimes brought into sight from Earth during favorable librations. However even at such times not much detail can be discerned, and the crater is better observed by orbiting spacecraft.

Fischer is a lunar impact crater that lies in the northeastern part of the interior floor of the huge walled plain Mendeleev. This feature is located on the far side of the Moon relative to the Earth, and can only be viewed from a spacecraft.

Glauber is a small lunar impact crater that is located just to the north of the large walled plain Mendeleev, on the Moon's far side. This crater lies just outside the irregular rim of Mendeleev, but well within the outer skirt of ejecta. It is a circular crater with a rim that has not been significantly eroded. The simple inner walls slope down to a small floor at the midpoint with a peak at the center. The diameter of the floor is only about one-third that of the crater.

Green is a lunar impact crater on the Moon's far side. It was named after British mathematician and physicist George Green in 1970. Prior to that, it was designated Crater 216. It lies just to the west of the huge walled plain Mendeleev, and is nearly joined with the west-northwestern edge of the crater Hartmann.

Harden is a small lunar impact crater that lies in the eastern part of the interior floor of the walled plain Mendeleev. It is located on the far side of the Moon, and cannot been seen from the Earth.

Hartmann is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies astride the west-southwestern rim of the huge walled plain Mendeleev, and intrudes part way into the wide inner wall of this feature. Nearly attached to the northwestern rim of Hartmann is the crater Green.

Richards is a small lunar impact crater that is located in the northern interior of the walled plain Mendeleev, on the far side of the Moon. It lies about half-way between the craters Bergman to the west-southwest and Fischer to the east, both also within Mendeleev's interior.

Schuster is a lunar impact crater that lies along the eastern rim of the much larger walled plain Mendeleev, on the far side of the Moon. To the east of Schuster is the crater Henderson, and to the southeast lies the large Chaplygin.

Vetchinkin is an eroded lunar impact crater. It is located to the west-northwest of the huge walled plain Mendeleev, on the far side of the Moon. To the west-northwest of Vetchinkin lies the crater Meshcherskiy and to the south-southeast lies Green.

References

↑ Boris Chertok, "Ракеты и люди" (Rockets and people), Moscow, 1999, pp. 302-303.

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 2019-02-25.
Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
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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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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[1] Boris Chertok, "Ракеты и люди" (Rockets and people), Moscow, 1999, pp. 302-303.

Oblique Apollo 16 image, facing east
Coordinates	17°18′S145°06′E / 17.3°S 145.1°E / -17.3; 145.1 Coordinates: 17°18′S145°06′E / 17.3°S 145.1°E / -17.3; 145.1
Diameter	28 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	215° at sunrise
Eponym	Zu Chongzhi