Van de Graaff (crater)

Van de Graaff
	Lunar Orbiter 2 image
Coordinates	27°24′S172°12′E / 27.4°S 172.2°E Coordinates: 27°24′S172°12′E / 27.4°S 172.2°E
Diameter	233 km
Depth	4.0 km
Colongitude	173° at sunrise
Eponym	Robert J. Van de Graaff

Last updated April 27, 2023

Van de Graaff is a crater formation located on the far side of the Moon, on the northeast edge of Mare Ingenii.

Description

Van de Graaff has the appearance of two merged craters, approximately in a figure-8 shape with no intervening rim separating the two halves.

The crater Birkeland is attached to the southeast rim, nestling against the slightly narrower "waist" of the formation. To the north is Aitken, and Nassau lies to the east.

The outer rim has some terracing along the southwest wall, but is generally in a worn and eroded state. A pair of craterlets overlay the southeast rim, next to Birkeland. There are also several small craters on the interior floor of Van de Graaff. The southwest section has a central peak, while the northeast floor is slightly smoother in form.

Orbital studies of the Moon have demonstrated that there is a local magnetic field in the vicinity of this formation that is stronger than the natural lunar field. This is most likely an indication of volcanic rock underneath the surface. The crater also has a slightly higher concentration of radioactive materials than is typical for the lunar surface.

The crater walls in the vicinity of Van de Graaff display an unusual grooved texture. This region lies at the antipode of the Mare Imbrium impact site, and it is thought that powerful seismic waves from this event converged at this point.^[3] Most likely this energy created the grooved appearance as the tremors triggered landslides, although the grooves may also have been formed by deposited clumps of ejecta from the impact.

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 Van de Graaff.

Van de Graaff	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
C	26.6° S	172.8° E	20 km
F	26.8° S	174.6° E	20 km
J	28.5° S	174.1° E	25 km
M	30.6° S	171.5° E	19 km
Q	27.6° S	171.3° E	15 km

Related Research Articles

Dawes is a lunar impact crater located in the wide straight between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquilitatis. To its southwest lies the larger crater Plinius, and to its northeast sits the Mons Argaeus mountain rise. It is named after British astronomer William Rutter Dawes.

Zelinskiy is a lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It lies nestled along the northern edge of Mare Ingenii, with the oddly shaped crater Van de Graaff along the east rim and the lava-flooded crater Thomson within one crater diameter to the south.

Censorinus is a tiny lunar impact crater located on a rise to the southeast of the Mare Tranquillitatis. It is named after the ancient Roman writer Censorinus. To the northeast is the crater Maskelyne.

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.

Anders is a worn lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies just to the southeast of the outer rim of the huge walled basin named Apollo. To the south-southeast is the crater Leavitt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariadaeus (crater)</span> Crater on the Moon

Ariadaeus is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater on the western shores of Mare Tranquillitatis. It lies to the north of the crater Dionysius, and to the west-southwest of Arago. The crater is joined along the northeast rim by the slightly smaller Ariadaeus A, and the two form a double-crater. Its diameter is 10.4 km.

Thomson is a lunar impact crater that is located within the Mare Ingenii on the far side of the Moon. Just to the northeast is the unusual merged crater formation of Van de Graaff. On the northwest rim of the mare is O'Day, and to the south-southwest is Obruchev on the southern shore of Mare Ingenii.

Vertregt is the ancient remnant of a large lunar impact crater. It is located on the far side of the Moon, to the north of the unusual walled plain Van de Graaff. The prominent crater Aitken lies across the northeast rim of Vertregt, and Zwicky is attached to the northwestern rim.

Boyle is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the rugged far side of the Moon. It is adjacent to the larger crater Hess to the southeast, and lies about midway between the craters Alder to the north-northeast and Abbe to the south-southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawson (crater)</span> Lunar impact crater

Dawson is a lunar impact crater that lies on the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies across a crater triplet: the southeast rim is intruding into the crater Alekhin; the northwest rim also intrudes into the larger satellite crater Dawson V, and the northeast rim is attached to the comparably sized Dawson D. To the south of this formation is the large crater Zeeman. West of Dawson is the crater Crommelin, and to the north lies Fizeau.

Brianchon is a lunar impact crater that is located along the northwestern limb of the Moon. Due to its location, from the Earth the crater is seen from the edge and its visibility is somewhat affected by libration. Thus for a more detailed view, the crater must be viewed from orbit.

Boltzmann is an old lunar impact crater that is located along the southern limb of the Moon, in the vicinity of the south pole. At this location the crater is viewed from the side from Earth, and so not much detail can be seen. It is located to the north of the walled plain Drygalski, and to the west of the crater Le Gentil.

Brashear is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon, in the southern hemisphere in the vicinity of the south pole. The crater is named after the American astronomer John A. Brashear. It lies just to the south of the walled plain Antoniadi, within the larger crater's outer rampart of ejecta. To the northeast besides Antoniadi is the crater Numerov, and southeast lies the younger De Forest.

Birkeland is a lunar impact crater that lies in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. This crater is attached to the central waist of the oddly shaped Van de Graaff crater formation, and may partly account for that crater's figure-8 shape. To the southeast is the large walled plain Leibnitz.

van Albada is a lunar impact crater that is attached to the south-southeastern rim of Auzout. It lies southeast of Mare Crisium, and north-northeast of the larger crater Firmicus. Directly to the east is Krogh.

Leibnitz is a huge lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. This formation is the same size as Clavius on the near side. It is located to the east-southeast of Mare Ingenii, and is joined to the northeast rim of Von Kármán. Attached to the eastern rim of Leibnitz is Davisson, and intruding into the southeast rim is Finsen. Farther to the west is the large Oppenheimer.

Leeuwenhoek is a lunar impact crater that lies in the Moon's southern hemisphere, on the far side from the Earth. It is located to the east of the crater Birkeland and the unusual double crater Van de Graaff. To the northeast of Leeuwenhoek is Orlov and to the south is the large walled plain Leibnitz. It is named after Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.

Nassau is a lunar impact crater on the Moon's far side. It abuts against the northeastern rim of the figure-8-shaped crater Van de Graaff. To the southeast of Nassau lies the crater Leeuwenhoek, and to the east is Orlov.

Van den Bos is a small lunar impact crater that is joined to the south-southwestern outer rim of the slightly larger crater Tamm. About one crater diameter to the west is Vil'ev. Farther away to the east is the prominent Chaplygin, and to the south-southwest lies Marconi. van den Bos is located on the far side of the Moon and cannot be viewed directly from the Earth.

Nernst is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the northwestern limb. It lies across the northern part of the larger walled plain Lorentz, and intrudes slightly into the northwestern rim of the crater Röntgen.

References

↑ "Van de Graff Crater". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS – Astrogeology Science Center . Retrieved 2017-03-12.
↑ The geologic history of the Moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348. By Don E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 9-4.
↑ Seismic effects from major basin formations on the moon and mercury. Schultz, P.H. & Gault, D.E. The Moon (1975) 12: 159. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00577875

External links

Figure 20 in Chapter 2 of APOLLO OVER THE MOON: A View From Orbit (NASA SP-362, 1978) discusses Van de Graaff
Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
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.

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[1] "Van de Graff Crater". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS – Astrogeology Science Center . Retrieved 2017-03-12.

[2] The geologic history of the Moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348. By Don E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 9-4.

[3] Seismic effects from major basin formations on the moon and mercury. Schultz, P.H. & Gault, D.E. The Moon (1975) 12: 159. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00577875

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Lunar Orbiter 2 image
Coordinates	27°24′S172°12′E / 27.4°S 172.2°E / -27.4; 172.2 Coordinates: 27°24′S172°12′E / 27.4°S 172.2°E / -27.4; 172.2
Diameter	233 km
Depth	4.0 km
Colongitude	173° at sunrise
Eponym	Robert J. Van de Graaff