Albategnius (crater)
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| Crater characteristics | |
| Coordinates | 11.2° S, 4.1° E |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 129 km |
| Depth | 4.4 km |
| Colongitude | 356° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Al-Batani |
Albategnius is an ancient lunar impact crater located in the central highlands. It is named after the great muslim scientist Al-Battani. The level interior forms a "walled plain", surrounded by the high, terraced rim. The outer wall is somewhat hexagon-shaped, and has been heavily eroded with impacts, valleys and landslips. It attains a height above 4,000 meters along the northeast face. The rim is broken in the southwest by the smaller Klein crater.
Offset to the west of the crater mid-point is the central peak of Albategnius. This formation is designated Alpha (α) Albategnius. It is longer in extent in the north-south direction, extending for just under 20 kilometers, and has a width about half that. The peak rises to an altitude of roughly 1.5 km, and there is a tiny, relatively fresh crater at the top.
Albategnius is located to the south of the Hipparchus crater and to the east of Ptolemaeus and Alphonsus craters. The surface in this area is marked by a set of nearly parallel scars that form channels running roughly in a north-south line, bent slightly to the southeast.
The Albategnius crater is believed to have been featured prominently in an early sketch drawing by Galileo in his book Sidereus Nuncius published in 1610, appearing along the lunar terminator.
[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 Albategnius crater.
| Albategnius | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 8.9° S | 3.2° E | 7 km |
| B | 10.0° S | 4.0° E | 20 km |
| C | 10.3° S | 3.7° E | 6 km |
| D | 11.3° S | 7.1° E | 9 km |
| E | 12.9° S | 6.4° E | 14 km |
| G | 9.4° S | 1.9° E | 15 km |
| H | 9.7° S | 5.2° E | 11 km |
| J | 11.1° S | 6.2° E | 7 km |
| K | 9.9° S | 2.0° E | 10 km |
| L | 12.1° S | 6.3° E | 8 km |
| M | 8.9° S | 4.2° E | 9 km |
| N | 9.8° S | 4.5° E | 9 km |
| O | 13.2° S | 4.2° E | 5 km |
| P | 12.9° S | 4.5° E | 5 km |
| S | 13.3° S | 6.1° E | 6 km |
| T | 12.6° S | 6.1° E | 9 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.
