Crater King ( lat. King ) - a large impact crater in the equatorial region of the far side of the moon . The name is given in honor of the American physicist and astrophysicist Arthur Scott King (1876-1957) and the American astronomer Edward Skinner King (1861-1931); approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1970. The formation of the crater belongs to the Copernican period [1] .
| King | |
|---|---|
| lat King | |
 A picture from the side of Apollo 16 . | |
| Characteristics | |
| Diameter | 76.2 km |
| Deepest | 2780 m |
| Title | |
| Eponym | Arthur Scott King (1876-1957) - American physicist and astrophysicist; Edward Skiner King (1861-1931) - American astronomer. |
| Location | |
| Heavenly body | Moon |
Content
- 1 Crater Description
- 2 Satellite Craters
- 3 Spacecraft landing sites
- 4 See also
- 5 notes
- 6 References
Crater Description
The nearest neighbors of King Crater are the Viviani Crater in the west; Ibn Firnas Crater adjacent to the north-eastern part of the King Crater rampart; Zanstra crater in the east-southeast; the craters of Ctesibius , Heron and Soddy in the south; Abu al-Wafa crater in the southwest [2] . Selenographic coordinates of the center of the crater , diameter 76.2 km [3] , depth 2.8 km [1] .
King Crater is polygonal and slightly destroyed. This is one of the youngest craters on the far side of the moon. The crater shaft is slightly worse formed in its northern part and has a lower height here. In the southeastern part of the rampart there is a hollow formed by massive rock collapse. The inner slope of the rampart has a terrace-like structure, which is especially distinguishable in the eastern part; there are scree of rocks at the foot of the slope. The shaft height above the surrounding area is about 1330 m [1] , the volume of the crater is approximately 5,300 km 3 [1] . The bottom of the bowl is more even in the north, crossed in the southern part. In the center of the bowl is a branched V-shaped ridge stretching to the southern part of the crater. The composition of the ridge is gabbro – norite – troctolite anorthosite with a plagioclase content of 80–85% (GNTA2) and anorthosite gabbro-norite (AGN) [4] . Three peaks stand out within this ridge - Dieter Peak, Andre Peak and Ganau Peak . Two other notable peaks are located in the northeastern part of the bowl - Dilipa peak and Ardeshir peak . In the southeastern part of the bowl is a small crater of Sita .
In the crater bowl and beyond (north of the crater) are massifs of rocks ejected in the molten state and hardened as they cool. The abundance of such sites was the reason for the announcement of King Crater as an area of interest in the American Constellation program, which was closed in early February 2010.
The images from the Clementine probe show that the King crater is surrounded by a system of bright rays, but it is not clear what is the center of this radiation system.
Satellite craters
| King | Coordinates | Diameter, km |
|---|---|---|
| J | 12,4 | |
| Y | 35.7 |
Spacecraft landing locations
On October 11, 1967, approximately 40 km southwest of the King Crater rampart, at the point with selenographic coordinates of 3.0 ° N 119.1 ° E, after the end of the program of its work, the Lunar Orbiter-II probe made a hard landing.
See also
- List of Craters on the Moon
- Lunar crater
- Morphological catalog of craters of the Moon
- Planetary nomenclature
- Selenography
- Mineralogy of the Moon
- Geology of the moon
- Late heavy bombardment
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Lunar Impact Crater Database . Losiak A., Kohout T., O'Sulllivan K., Thaisen K., Weider S. (Lunar and Planetary Institute, Lunar Exploration Intern Program, 2009); updated by Öhman T. in 2011. Archived page .
- ↑ King Crater on the LAC-65 map
- ↑ Handbook of the International Astronomical Union
- ↑ Naosuke Sekiguchi, 1972. Catalog of Central Peaks and Floor Objects of the Lunar Craters on the Visible Hemisphere. University of Tokyo Press and University Park Press.
Links
- Digital Photographic Atlas of the Moon
- Pictures of the crater from the side of Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollon 13, Apollon 14, Apollon 16, Apollo 17
- Topographic map of the vicinity of the crater
- Topographic map of the array of central peaks of the crater
- Topographic map of the northern part of the outer slope of the crater shaft
- Fault scarp with impact melt in King crater.
- King Crater's Unusual Melt Pond.
- King crater ejecta deposits.
- Making a Splash at King Crater.
- Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor.
- Natural Bridge on the Moon!
- King of the Farside.
- King of the Craters.
- Happy Birthday Martin.
- King for a Day.
- Description of the crater on The Moon-Wiki.
- Andersson, LE, and EA Whitaker, NASA Catalog of Lunar Nomenclature, NASA Reference Publication 1097, October 1982.