Plana (crater)

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Crater Plana photographed by Eric S. Kounce of the West Texas Astronomers (www.wtastro.org) on October 28, 2006 from the McDonald Observatory's 36-Inch Telescope.

Plana is a lunar crater that lies on the boundary between two small lunar mares, with Lacus Mortis to the north and the larger Lacus Somniorum on the southern side. It is joined to the Mason crater to the east by a short stretch of rugged ground. Due north of Plana in the midst of the Lacus Mortis is the prominent Bürg crater.

This is a crater with a slender outer rim that has been worn and eroded by impacts. This rim surrounds an interior that has been flooded by basaltic-lava, leaving a level surface with only a central peak at the mid-point projecting up through the floor. There is a small craterlet near the eastern rim, but otherwise the interior floor is nearly featureless. The outer rim has some narrow breaks along the northwest, and the side is lower along the southwestern face. A small, circular crater intrudes slightly into the northwestern part of the rim.

[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 Plana crater.

[edit] References

• See the reference table for the general listing of literature and web sites that were used in the compilation of this page.