Orontius (crater)
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| Crater characteristics | |
| Coordinates | 40.3° S, 4.0° W |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 122 km |
| Depth | 3.1 km |
| Colongitude | 4° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Oronce Fine |
Orontius is a lunar impact crater that lies in the heavily-cratered southern highlands of the Moon's near side. It is located to the northwest of the prominent Tycho crater, and south and east of the large Deslandres walled-plain. The eastern part of the crater is overlaid by the smaller Huggins crater, which is overlain in turn on its eastern rim by the still smaller Nasireddin crater, the trio forming a crater chain of diminishing dimensions. Joined to the southern rim is the Saussure crater. To the southwest, just east of Tycho, is the Pictet crater.
The rim of Orontius is battered, worn, and overlain by a number of different craters. A pair of craters to the west have intruded into the crater wall, forming inward bulges. Little of the original wall remains nearly intact, with the south and southwestern rim having survived the erosion process better than the other wall sections.
The southwest half of the crater floor is still fairly flat and marred only by a few small craterlets. In the north of the crater, the distorted feature 'Orontius F' forms a distorted, crater-like oval.
[edit] Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Orontius crater.
| Orontius | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 39.1° S | 2.6° W | 7 km |
| B | 40.0° S | 3.1° W | 10 km |
| C | 37.9° S | 4.1° W | 15 km |
| D | 39.4° S | 6.2° W | 15 km |
| E | 39.5° S | 4.8° W | 6 km |
| F | 39.1° S | 3.9° W | 41 km |
[edit] 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 on 2007-08-05.
- Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81528-2.
- Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 0-936389-27-3.
- McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). Lunar Nomenclature. Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved on 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: 136.
- Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-304-35469-4.
- Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521335000.
- Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-913135-17-8.
- Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, 6th revision, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20917-2.
- Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62248-4.
- Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 1852331933.
