Milne (crater)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crater characteristics
Coordinates 31.4° S, 112.2° W
Diameter 272 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 252° at sunrise
Eponym E. Arthur Milne

Milne is a large lunar crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon, named after British mathematician and astrophysicist Edward Arthur Milne. It lies to the northeast of the Mare Australe, and southeast of Lacus Solitudinis.

The formation has been heavily eroded and reshaped by a long history of impacts, leaving a low, irregular ridge line around most of the perimeter. The southern portion of the wall has been obliterated by impacts, and this area is now overlaid by the craters 'Milne M' and 'Milne N', the later being smaller and overlapping the western rim of the later.

Although the interior floor is relatively flat, is has been marred by many impacts in the surface. The most prominent of these is the satellite crater 'Milne K', which is located just to the south of the mid-point. Overlapping the southern rim of K is the smaller 'Milne L' crater. In the northeast part of the floor is an unusual tight formation of 10-12 small impacts that almost resemble a cluster of grapes.

The crater floor is somewhat irregular in the northwest part, where the prominent Scaliger crater intrudes into the outer rim, leaving ejecta across the floor. Other nearby craters include Alden to the north, Parkhurst to the west, Schaeberle to the northeast, and Bjerknes to the south. Further to the northeast is Fermi walled-basin and the impressive Tsiolkovskiy 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 Milne crater.

Milne Latitude Longitude Diameter
K 32.5° S 113.1° E 65 km
L 33.7° S 112.7° E 26 km
M 35.7° S 112.1° E 54 km
N 35.5° S 110.8° E 37 km
P 37.1° S 107.7° E 95 km
Q 34.3° S 107.3° E 75 km

[edit] References