Curtius Crater ( lat. Curtius ) - a large ancient impact crater in the southern mainland of the visible side of the moon . The name was given in honor of the German astronomer Albert Curtius (1600-1671) and approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1935. The formation of the crater belongs to the nectar period [1] .
| Curcium | |
|---|---|
| lat Curtius | |
 Shot of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter probe. | |
| Specifications | |
| Diameter | 99.3 km |
| Deepest | 3750 m |
| Title | |
| Eponym | Albert Curtius (1600-1671) is a German astronomer. |
| Location | |
| Heavenly body | Moon |
Crater Description
The closest neighbors of Curtius Crater are the Grümberger and Cisat craters in the west; Pentland Crater almost adjacent to Curtius Crater in the northeast; Simpelius crater in the south-south-east and Moret crater in the south-west [3] . Selenographic coordinates of the center of the crater , diameter 99.3 km [4] , depth 3.75 km [5] .
Curtius Crater has a polygonal shape and is significantly destroyed over a long time of its existence, surrounded by a smoothed rampart which in the northwestern part reaches a height of more than 6700 m above the bottom of the bowl [6] . Thus, the crater shaft is one of the highest on the visible side of the moon, second only to the craters of Newton and Kazati craters. There are two protrusions in the northwestern part of the shaft, the eastern part of the shaft is covered by the satellite crater Curtius E (see below), the southeastern part is marked by the bowl-shaped satellite crater Curtius A. On the inner slope of the shaft, remains of a terrace-like structure are visible, its northern part is much wider. The bottom of the bowl is relatively flat, there is a low rounded central peak somewhat offset to the west of the center. The volume of the crater is approximately 8800 km³ [1] .
Due to its location near the southern limb of the Moon, the crater during observations has a distorted shape.
Satellite Craters
| Curcium | Coordinates | Diameter, km |
|---|---|---|
| A | 11.7 | |
| B | 40.3 | |
| C | 9.9 | |
| D | 57.2 | |
| E | 17.0 | |
| F | 5.5 | |
| G | 5,4 | |
| H | 9.7 | |
| K | 6.6 | |
| L | 7.7 | |
| M | 5.1 |
- The formation of the satellite crater Curtius B belongs to the nectar period [1] .
- The formation of the satellite crater Curtius D belongs to the preectarian period [1] .
See also
- List of Craters on the Moon
- Lunar crater
- Morphological catalog of Moon Craters
- 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 .
- ↑ Map of the visible side of the moon.
- ↑ Curtius Crater on the map of LAC-137.
- ↑ Handbook of the International Astronomical Union
- ↑ John E. Westfall's Atlas of the Lunar Terminator, Cambridge Univ. Press (2000)
- ↑ Crater description on The Moon-Wiki.