Coordinates | 30°25′S37°33′W / 30.42°S 37.55°W |
---|---|
Diameter | 42.51 km (26.41 mi) |
Depth | 1.7 km (1.1 mi) |
Colongitude | 37° at sunrise |
Eponym | Vitello |
Vitello is a lunar impact crater that lies along the southern edge of the small Mare Humorum, in the southwest part of the Moon's near side. It was named after 13th century Polish theologian and physicist Vitello. [1] It lies just to the east of the lava-flooded crater Lee. To the northeast along the edge of the lunar mare is the Rupes Kelvin, an irregular fault line.
This crater has a low, roughly circular rim with a sharp edge. The interior floor is irregular, rugged and hilly, with a ring of deep fractures [2] surrounding the central peak. A low ridge projects out from the northwest rim into the mare.
Vitello was once believed to be a caldera rather than an impact crater. In To A Rocky Moon, lunar geologist Don Wilhelms summarized: It "is a Saari-Shorthill infrared hotspot, [3] is fractured, and is blanketed and surrounded by a dark deposit. If there is a caldera on the moon, this ought to be it." However, Lunar Orbiter 5 acquired high-resolution images of the interior and geologists noted that the fractures were filled with boulders which caused the infrared anomaly, and so volcanic heat was not escaping from Vitello. Wilhelms concluded "...if it is a caldera, its activity expired long ago." [4]
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Vitello.
Vitello | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
---|---|---|---|
A | 34.1° S | 41.9° W | 21 km |
B | 31.1° S | 35.4° W | 11 km |
C | 32.4° S | 42.5° W | 14 km |
D | 33.2° S | 41.0° W | 18 km |
E | 29.2° S | 35.8° W | 7 km |
G | 32.3° S | 37.6° W | 10 km |
H | 32.8° S | 43.0° W | 12 km |
K | 31.9° S | 37.6° W | 13 km |
L | 31.6° S | 35.3° W | 7 km |
M | 32.4° S | 36.0° W | 7 km |
N | 32.1° S | 36.1° W | 5 km |
P | 31.2° S | 38.4° W | 9 km |
R | 33.0° S | 37.0° W | 3 km |
S | 30.8° S | 35.2° W | 6 km |
T | 33.8° S | 39.6° W | 9 km |
X | 32.2° S | 40.6° W | 8 km |
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Archimedes is a large lunar impact crater on the eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium. Its diameter is 81 km.
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Euler is a lunar impact crater located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium, and is named after the Swiss mathematician, physician and astronomer Leonhard Euler. The most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the west-southwest. There is a cluster of low ridges to the southwest, and this formation includes the small crater Natasha and the tiny Jehan. About 200 kilometers to the east-northeast is the comparably sized crater Lambert.
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Cayley is a small lunar impact crater that is located in a lava-flooded region to the west of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was named after the 19th-century English mathematician Arthur Cayley. It lies to the northwest of the smaller crater De Morgan and the larger D'Arrest. West and slightly north of Cayley is Whewell, a crater of about the same dimensions. To the north is a linear rille designated Rima Ariadaeus, which follows a course to the east-southeast.
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