Franz (crater)

Franz
Apollo 17 Mapping Camera image
Coordinates 16°36′N 40°12′E / 16.6°N 40.2°E / 16.6; 40.2Coordinates: 16°36′N 40°12′E / 16.6°N 40.2°E / 16.6; 40.2
Diameter 25 km
Depth 0.6 km
Colongitude 187° at sunrise
Eponym Julius Heinrich Franz
Franz under low sun angle, also from Apollo 17
High-resolution oblique view, also from Apollo 17

File: Franz is a small lunar impact crater identified during the Apollo mission in August 1971 and located along the eastern edge of the Sinus Amoris, a bay that forms a northern extension to the Mare Tranquillitatis. It lies about 170 km southwest of the prominent crater Macrobius. To the north is the smaller Carmichael, and to the northwest is the diminutive Theophrastus.

Its diameter is 25 km long and is 600 meters deep. The area is around 450 km² and the perimeter is about 75 km.

The rim of this crater has been eroded due to subsequent impacts, although it retains a generally circular form. The interior has been flooded, leaving only a narrow inner wall and a low surviving rim. This floor has the same albedo as the surrounding terrain, and is not as dark as the lunar mare surface to the north and west. Attached to the exterior of the eastern rim is Proclus E, a merged double-crater formation. Proclus lies to the east across the Palus Somni, or Marsh of Sleep.

References

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  • Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
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  • Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4.
  • Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3.
  • Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6.
  • Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1.
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