Richardson (lunar crater)
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| Crater characteristics | |
| Coordinates | 31.1° N, 100.5° E |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 141 km |
| Depth | Unknown |
| Colongitude | 262° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Owen W. Richardson |
Richardson is a large lunar crater located on the Moon's far side, just behind the eastern limb. It lies to the south of the huge Harkhebi walled-plain, and to the east-southeast of Vestine crater. Just to the northeast is Szilard crater, and to the southeast is Artamonov crater.
A substantial portion of the crater is overlaid by the Maxwell crater, which lies across the rim to the southwest. The northeastern rim of Maxwell reaches the approximate mid-point of the Richardson crater, and together with the outer rampart covers nearly half the interior floor. The remainder of the rim of Richardson is worn and eroded, with 'Richardson W' intruding into the northwest rim and 'Richardson E' lying along the eastern side.
The surviving interior floor of Richardson is relatively level, but marked with a number of small craterlets. The rim and interior floor is covered by a number of wispy deposits from the Giordano Bruno crater, located just to the north-northeast.
[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 Richardson crater.
| Richardson | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| E | 31.9° N | 103.6° E | 22 km |
| W | 33.5° N | 98.3° E | 23 km |
[edit] References
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- 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.
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- 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.
