De La Rue (crater)

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Crater characteristics
Coordinates	59.1° N, 53.0° E
Diameter	136 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	310° at sunrise
Eponym	Warren de la Rue

De La Rue is the remnant of a lunar crater, or possibly several merged craters, creating a formation sometimes called a walled-plain. It lies in the northeast part of the Moon on the near side, and so appears foreshortened due to its location. This formation lies to the north-northwest of the prominent Endymion crater, just beyond the eastern extreme of Mare Frigoris. Strabo crater intrudes into the northern part of De La Rue's northern rim, and the smaller Thales crater is attached to the northwestern part of the wall.

The perimeter of Del La Rue is a disintegrated mass of hills, irregular ground, and notches from old craters. The rim is generally rounded along the northwest half, while a formation to the southeast is intruding into the crater resulting in a somewhat straightened wall along that flank. The overall result is a somewhat pear-shaped perimeter. There are remnants of small craters along the south-southeast rim, and several ghost-crater rims lay along the interior floor beside the northern inner wall.

Near the mid-point of the relatively flat interior floor is the bowl-shaped 'De La Rue J' satellite crater. There is rough ground attached to the southern rim of this crater, and low hills just to the west. The inner floor is rougher along the southeast side. The remaining floor is marked by many tiny craterlets, with a notable pair in the northeast part of the interior.

[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 De La Rue crater.

De La Rue	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
D	56.8° N	46.2° E	17 km
E	56.8° N	49.7° E	32 km
J	59.0° N	52.8° E	14 km
P	60.5° N	61.4° E	10 km
Q	61.5° N	60.5° E	10 km
R	62.1° N	61.1° E	9 km
S	62.9° N	61.6° E	12 km
W	55.7° N	46.9° E	18 km

[edit] References

• Wood, Chuck (2006-09-02). A Non-Crater. Lunar Photo of the Day. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
• 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.
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• 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. 
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• 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.