Desargues (crater)
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| Crater characteristics | |
| Coordinates | 70.2° N, 73.3° W |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 85 km |
| Depth | Unknown |
| Colongitude | 77° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Gerard Desargues |
Desargues is an ancient lunar crater that is located near the northern limb of the Moon, on the western hemisphere. It lies nearly due south of Pascal crater, and southeast of the Brianchon crater. The proximity of this crater to the limb means that the formation appears highly elongated due to foreshortening, and it is ddifficult to discern details from the Earth.
This formation has been significantly eroded and degraded with the passage of time, leaving a low, irregular rim that has been reshaped by subsequent impacts. The rim has a notable bulge to the northeast, and a lesser bulge along the southern rim. The later remains as an imprint of a ghost-crater in the surface that overlays the southern rim, and leaves a remnant of its northern rim in the crater floor.
The bulge to the northeast has left a remnant of its origin in the crater floor, as a series of low hills extending from the north and southeast. These enclose the northeastern third of the floor, and are suggestive of an overlapping crater formation. This crater is overlaid in turn by a pair of craters that lie across the eastern rim.
The floor of the crater is level and has most likely been resurfaced by subsequent lava flows, or by fallback and ejecta deposits. This wiped away much of the original structure of the interior, leaving ridges and traces where once lay crater rims. Other lesser craters intrude into the rim, with 'Desargues M' forming a bulge into the southern rim and 'Desargues A' overlaying the northern 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 Desargues crater.
| Desargues | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 71.4° N | 75.3° W | 30 km |
| B | 70.7° N | 65.0° W | 50 km |
| C | 69.7° N | 78.4° W | 12 km |
| D | 69.3° N | 69.6° W | 11 km |
| E | 70.2° N | 67.4° W | 31 km |
| K | 68.5° N | 67.2° W | 10 km |
| L | 69.6° N | 82.2° W | 13 km |
| M | 68.4° N | 73.9° W | 30 km |
[edit] References
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- 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.
- 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.
