Maclear (moon crater)
| Maclear | ||
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| Maclear (middle right) and surroundings ( LROC -WAC) | ||
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| position | 10.51 ° N , 20.11 ° E | |
| diameter | 20 km | |
| depth | 610 m | |
| Card sheet | 60 (PDF) | |
| Named after | Thomas Maclear (1794–1879) | |
| Named since | 1961 | |
| Unless otherwise stated, the information comes from the entry in the IAU / USGS database | ||
Maclear is a lava-filled lunar crater in the northwestern part of Mare Tranquillitatis , a mare on the eastern half of the lunar front. The crater is southeast of Ross Crater and southwest of Sosigenes Crater . The Arago crater can be seen some distance to the south-southeast . The Maclear A satellite crater is around 70 km away.
Since Maclear is almost completely covered by the residues of basaltic lava , only a narrow edge can be seen protruding from the surface of the surrounding mare. This edge is not perfectly circular, but has a slight, outward bulge on its west side. On the other hand, it is relatively uniform in width and not excessively eroded.
The crater forms the southern end of a moon groove, which in turn belongs to a groove system along the west side of the Mare Tranquillitatis . The ridge system in the north is known as Rimae Maclear , while the ridge in the south-southwest is known as Rimae Sosigenes . The Rimae MacLear extend over a distance of about 100 kilometers and reach the crater Al-Bakri on the edge of the Mare in the north .
It is named after Sir Thomas Maclear , in whose honor it was named by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1961 .
| Letter | position | diameter | link |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. | 11.3 ° N , 17.99 ° E | 5 km | [1] |
Individual evidence
- ^ John E. Westfall: Atlas of the Lunar Terminator. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2000, p. 278