Le Monnier (crater)

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Crater characteristics
Coordinates	26.6° N, 30.6° E
Diameter	61 km
Depth	2.4 km
Colongitude	330° at sunrise
Eponym	Pierre C. Lemonnier

Le Monnier is the remnant of a lunar crater that has been partly inundated by lava flows. It is located on the east edge of Mare Serenitatis, and the west part of the rim is missing so that it now forms a large bay. To the north is the Chacornac crater.

The interior of this formation is relatively flat and smooth, with no significant craterlets to mark the surface. The outer rim is battered, worn, and notched with past impacts. Only slight wrinkle-ridges now mark where the western rim once lay.

The landing site of the Luna 21 space probe is located near the southern rim of Le Monnier. Lunokhod 2, a robotic roving vehicle deposited on the surface by Luna 21, covered a distance of 37 kilometers across the crater floor. It also surveyed the southern edge of the crater 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 Le Monnier crater.

le Monnier	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	26.9° N	32.5° E	21 km
H	25.0° N	29.6° E	6 km
K	27.7° N	30.2° E	4 km
S	26.8° N	33.9° E	40 km
T	25.1° N	31.4° E	18 km
U	26.1° N	33.5° E	25 km
V	26.0° N	34.3° E	23 km

The following craters have been renamed by the IAU.

Le Monnier B — See Very crater.
Le Monnier C — See Borel crater.

[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.