Joule (crater)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crater characteristics
Coordinates	27.3° N, 144.2° W
Diameter	96 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	145° at sunrise
Eponym	James Prescott Joule

Joule is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon. It is located to the north-northeast of the Mach walled-plain. To the northwest of Joule is Blazhko crater.

This is a worn and eroded crater formation. A pair of smaller craters lie along the northeastern rim, and a crater is intruding into the northwest rim. To the south is an outward projection that has the appearance of a crater partly overlaid by Joule. The remainder of the rim and inner wall is somewhat irregular. The interior floor is more level than the terrain surrounding the crater, but is marked by some small craterlets. At the mid-point of the interior floor is a central peak.

'Joule T', located less than a crater diameter to the west of Joule, lies at the center of a ray system. These rays primarily project to the south of the crater, with the most prominent ray crossing Harvey crater to the south. Only faint traces of this ray system actually cross into Joule crater, and are generally restricted to the western rim, inner sides and floor.