Mendeleev (crater)

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Crater characteristics
Oblique view of Catena Mendeleev from Apollo 11. Richards crater is at the top-center. NASA photo.
Coordinates	5.7° N, 140.9° E
Diameter	313 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	224° at sunrise
Eponym	Dmitry Mendeleev

Mendeleev is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, as seen from the Earth. The southern rim of this walled plain just crosses the lunar equator. Intruding into the eastern rim of Mendeleev is Schuster crater. Nearly on the opposite side, the smaller Hartmann crater intrudes into west-southwestern rim.

The nearly level interior basin of Mendeleev contains a number of smaller crater formations which have been given names. These form a rough pentagon formation that covers much of the interior floor. Along the western inner floor, Bergman crater to the west-northwest and Moissan crater to the west just make contact with the western inner wall of Mendeleev. Together with Bergman, Fischer crater to the north-northeast and Richards crater in the north of Mendeleev for the northern side of the pentagon. The figure continues with Harden crater near Schuster, and Benedict crater just to the southeast of the mid-point of Mendeleev. The largest crater within the Mendeleev basin is 'Mendeleev P', to the south-southwest.

The remainder of the interior floor is relatively flat, at least in comparison to the rugged blast terrain radiating away from the exterior. There are, however, a number of small craters within the interior in addition to those mentioned above. A cluster of these craters lay near the mid-point of the interior, and there are several in the southeast part of the floor. In the western half of the floor is a chain of tiny craters named the Catena Mendeleev. These form a line that runs from near the southwest part of the interior, then tangentially grazes the western rim of Richards crater.

In Stanislaw Lem's More Tales of Pirx the Pilot, a story is wrapped around a fictional lunar science facility that is stationed in the Mendeleev crater.

[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 Mendeleev crater.

Mendeleev	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
P	2.7° N	139.4° E	29 km

[edit] References

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