Whipple (moon crater)
| Whipple | ||
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| Whipple ( LROC ) | ||
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| position | 89.14 ° N , 119.92 ° O | |
| diameter | 15 km | |
| depth | 3000 m | |
| Card sheet | 1 (PDF) | |
| Named after | Fred Lawrence; American astronomer (1906-2004). | |
| Named since | April 17, 2009 | |
| Unless otherwise stated, the information comes from the entry in the IAU / USGS database | ||
Whipple is an impact crater on the back of the moon about 25 km from the lunar north pole . The wall rises about 500 m above the surrounding terrain, the interior is about 3000 m deep with a diameter of about 15 km. The interior of the crater is never directly irradiated by the sun and is therefore one of the places in the polar regions of the moon where the deposition of volatile substances such as water is believed to be possible.
The crater was named by the IAU on April 17, 2009 after the American astronomer Fred Whipple .
literature
- DE Smith, MT Zuber, E. Mazarico et al .: Whipple Crater at the lunar North Pole: A smaller version of Shackleton at the lunar South Pole? American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, bibcode : 2010AGUFM.P53C1541S