Vega (crater)

Vega
	Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	45°24′S63°24′E / 45.4°S 63.4°E Coordinates: 45°24′S63°24′E / 45.4°S 63.4°E
Diameter	76 km
Depth	2.9 km
Colongitude	298° at sunrise
Eponym	Georg F. Von Vega

Last updated August 07, 2019

Vega is an eroded lunar impact crater that is located in the southeastern part of the Moon. It lies on the near side and so can be viewed from the Earth. Less than one crater diameter to the east-southeast is the slightly smaller Peirescius. About one and a half crater diameters to the west is the long Vallis Rheita.

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 crater has been worn and eroded by a history of impacts. Vega B overlies the southern part of the southern floor and inner wall. The east-northeastern section of the rim is overlain by a merged pair of small craters. A cluster of small craters lies along the northwestern rim. The remainder of the outer rim is round-shouldered and marked by many tiny impacts. The southern part interior floor is partly overlaid by the outer rampart of Vega B. The remainder of the floor is relatively featureless except for a few tiny craters.

This feature is named after the Slovenian mathematician Jurij Vega (Georg Freiherr von Vega in German).

Mathematician person with an extensive knowledge of mathematics

A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in his or her work, typically to solve mathematical problems.

Baron Jurij Bartolomej Vega was a Slovene mathematician, physicist and artillery officer.

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol in Italy, the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

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 Vega.

Vega	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	47.2° S	65.3° E	12 km
B	46.2° S	63.5° E	30 km
C	45.2° S	64.8° E	21 km
D	44.7° S	64.3° E	25 km
G	44.4° S	62.4° E	11 km
H	44.5° S	60.1° E	6 km
J	45.6° S	59.9° E	19 km

The estimated age of the crater is 69–70 million years old

Related Research Articles

Anaximenes is a low-rimmed lunar impact crater near the north-northwest limb of the Moon. It lies to the west of the crater Philolaus, and northeast of Carpenter. To the northwest is Poncelet, close to the visible edge of the Moon.

Alekhin is a lunar impact crater that is located on the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the north of the crater Zeeman, and south-southeast of Fizeau. To the west lies Crommelin, and east-southeast is Doerfel.

Asclepi is a heavily eroded lunar impact crater that lies in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon. The outer rim has been worn down and rounded by many millions of years of subsequent impacts, so that it is now nearly level with the surrounding terrain. As a result, the crater is now little more than a depression in the surface. The interior is nearly flat and relatively featureless.

Babbage is an ancient lunar impact crater that is located near the northwest limb of the Moon, named after Charles Babbage. It is attached to the southeastern rim of the prominent crater Pythagoras. The crater remnant named South intrudes into the southeastern floor of Babbage.

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.

Oenopides is a lunar impact crater that is located near the northwestern limb of the Moon, and so appears foreshortened when viewed from the Earth. This formation lies due south of the prominent crater Pythagoras, and is attached to the southwest rim of Babbage E. The southwest rim of Oenopides is part of the northern edge of Oceanus Procellarum. To the south is Markov.

Fabry is a large lunar impact crater of the form termed a walled plain. It is located on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the northeastern limb. Parts of this area are sometimes brought into view by the effects of libration, but the terrain is seen from the edge and so not much in the way of detail can be observed.

Condorcet is a lunar impact crater that is located in the eastern part of the Moon's near side, to the southeast of the Mare Crisium. It was named after French mathematician Marquis de Condorcet. To the northeast of Condorcet are the craters Hansen and Alhazen.

Bronk is an eroded crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, out of sight from the Earth. It lies to the southeast of the larger crater Kovalevskaya. Less than one crater diameter to the east-northeast is the smaller crater Bobone.

Casatus is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southern limb of the Moon. The north-northeast rim of the crater overlies a portion of the slightly larger crater Klaproth. Along the western rim, Casatus A intrudes somewhat into the interior, producing an inward-bowing rim. To the southeast of Casatus is Newton.

Wilhelm is a lunar impact crater in the southern part of the Moon, to the west of the prominent Tycho. Portions of the ray material from Tycho lie across the rim and floor of Wilhelm. Attached to its southern rim is the crater Montanari, while Lagalla is attached to the southwest. To the north-northeast is Heinsius.

Cori is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies less than one crater diameter to the north of the crater Baldet. To the northeast is the crater Grissom. It is named after Gerty Cori, the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first woman to win the prize in the category Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Carver is a lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, due east of the walled plain Van der Waals. To the northeast is the crater Rosseland, and to the south-southeast lies Kozyrev.

Chandler is a lunar impact crater in the northern hemisphere, on the Moon's far side. It lies to the southeast of the large walled plain D'Alembert, and southeast of the slightly smaller Chernyshev crater.

Reimarus is a lunar impact crater, located in the southeastern part of the Moon's near side. The eroded southeastern end of the long Vallis Rheita passes just to the west. To the northeast is the larger and heavily worn crater Vega.

Donner is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located just to the northeast of the Mare Australe, behind the southeastern limb of the Moon. During favorable librations this part of the lunar surface can be brought into view of the Earth, but the site is viewed from the edge and so not much detail can be seen.

Fesenkov is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located to the east-southeast of the prominent crater Tsiolkovskiy, and less than a crater diameter to the north of Stark.

Lebedinskiy is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is attached to the eastern outer rim of the somewhat larger crater Zhukovskiy. About two crater diameters to the east-southeast lies the smaller Engel'gardt. The satellite crater Lebedinskiy P lies in the southern indentation of terrain between Lebedinskiy and Zhukovsky, and is nearly attached to the southwest rim of Lebedinskiy.

Weber is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon, and it cannot be viewed directly from the Earth's surface. This crater is attached to the northwest outer rim of the larger crater Sarton. About two crater diameters to the northwest is the eroded Kramers.

Seidel is a worn lunar impact crater that lies to the east-northeast of the much larger crater Jules Verne. Farther to the east of Seidel is the western edge of Mare Ingenii, and to the northeast lies the crater O'Day.

References

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.
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.
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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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Lunar Orbiter 4 image
Coordinates	45°24′S63°24′E / 45.4°S 63.4°E / -45.4; 63.4 Coordinates: 45°24′S63°24′E / 45.4°S 63.4°E / -45.4; 63.4
Diameter	76 km
Depth	2.9 km
Colongitude	298° at sunrise
Eponym	Georg F. Von Vega