Kepler (lunar crater)

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Crater characteristics
Kepler crater from Apollo 12. NASA photo.
Coordinates	8.1° N, 38.0° W
Diameter	32 km
Depth	2.6 km
Colongitude	38° at sunrise
Eponym	Johannes Kepler

Kepler is a young lunar impact crater that lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the west and Mare Insularum in the east. To the southeast is the Encke crater.

Kepler is most notable for the prominent ray system that covers the surrounding maria. The rays extend for well over 300 kilometers, overlapping the rays from other craters. Kepler has a small rampart of ejecta surrounding the exterior of its high rim. The outer wall is not quite circular, and possesses a slightly polygonal form. The interior walls of Kepler are slumped and slightly terraced, descending to an uneven floor and a minor central rise.

One of the rays from Tycho crater, when extended across the Oceanus Procellarum, intersects this crater. This was a factor in the choice of the crater's name when Giovanni Riccioli was creating his system of lunar nomenclature, as Kepler used the observations of Tycho Brahe while devising his three laws of planetary motion. On Riccioli's maps, this crater was named Keplerus, and the surrounding skirt of higher albedo terrain was named Insulara Ventorum.

[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 Kepler crater.

Kepler	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	7.2° N	36.1° W	11 km
B	7.8° N	35.3° W	7 km
C	10.0° N	41.8° W	11 km
D	7.4° N	41.9° W	10 km
E	7.4° N	43.9° W	6 km
F	8.3° N	39.0° W	7 km
P	12.2° N	34.0° W	4 km
T	9.0° N	34.6° W	3 km

[edit] References

• See the reference table for the general listing of literature and web sites that were used in the compilation of this page.
• Wood, Chuck (2006-07-05). A Smarter Kepler (English). Lunar Photo of the Day. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.