Longomontanus (crater)

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Crater characteristics
Coordinates	49.5° S, 21.7° W
Diameter	145 km
Depth	4.5 km
Colongitude	22° at sunrise
Eponym	C. S. Longomontanus

Longomontanus is an ancient lunar impact crater located in the rugged southern highlands to the southwest of Tycho crater. It is of the variety of large lunar formations sometimes called a "walled plain", although it is actually more of a circular depression in the surface. Because of its location, the Longomontanus appears distinctly oval in shape due to foreshortening.

To the southeast of Longomontanus is the even larger Clavius crater, and to the east is Maginus crater. North of the rim is the irregular Montanari crater, which in turn is joined at its northern rim by Wilhelm crater.

The wall of Longomontanus is heavily worn and incised by past impacts, and the rim is essentially level with the surrounding terrain. The northern rim especially is impacted with multiple overlapping craterlets. To the east of the rim is a semi-circular ridge that has the appearance of an overlapped crater rim. The crater floor of Longomontanus is relatively flat, with a low cluster of central peaks somewhat offset to the west.

[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 Longomontanus crater.

Longomontanus	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	52.8° S	24.0° W	29 km
B	52.9° S	20.7° W	48 km
C	53.4° S	19.0° W	31 km
D	54.3° S	22.9° W	29 km
E	51.4° S	18.0° W	8 km
F	48.2° S	23.5° W	19 km
G	48.7° S	18.5° W	15 km
H	52.0° S	23.2° W	7 km
K	47.9° S	20.9° W	15 km
L	49.1° S	23.6° W	16 km
M	48.6° S	23.2° W	10 km
N	50.8° S	25.7° W	12 km
P	48.1° S	25.3° W	7 km
Q	52.0° S	20.5° W	11 km
R	52.4° S	26.1° W	9 km
S	47.4° S	23.3° W	12 km
T	46.8° S	22.7° W	5 km
U	52.0° S	22.0° W	7 km
V	50.7° S	18.9° W	5 km
W	47.1° S	21.3° W	10 km
X	53.0° S	17.7° W	5 km
Y	52.3° S	28.2° W	4 km
Z	50.0° S	18.7° W	95 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.