Maclear (crater)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crater characteristics
Coordinates	10.5° N, 20.1° E
Diameter	20 km
Depth	0.6 km
Colongitude	340° at sunrise
Eponym	Thomas Maclear

Maclear is a lava-flooded crater on the northwest part of the Mare Tranquillitatis, a lunar mare in the eastern half of the Moon. The crater is located to the southeast of the slightly larger Ross crater. To the southwest of Maclear is Sosigenes crater, while further to the south-southeast is Arago crater.

With most of its interior submerged in the deposits of basaltic-lava, all that remains of this crater is a narrow rim projecting above the surrounding mare. The rim is not quite circular, having a flat outward bulge along the western side. But the rim is relatively uniform in width and is not significantly eroded.

The crater rim lies at the southern terminus of a rille belonging to a system that runs along the western edges of Mare Tranquillitatis. The rille system to the north of the crater is designated Rimae Maclear, while the rilles to the south-southwest is named Rimae Sosigenes. The Rimae Maclear stretches foa a distance about 100 kilometers, reaching Al-Bakri crater to the north along the edge of the mare.

It is named after Sir Thomas Maclear, royal astronomer at Cape Town, South Africa, from 1833-1870.

[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 Maclear crater.