Hipparchus (lunar crater)

Hipparchus
LRO image of Hipparchus
Coordinates 5°30′S 4°48′E / 5.5°S 4.8°E / -5.5; 4.8Coordinates: 5°30′S 4°48′E / 5.5°S 4.8°E / -5.5; 4.8
Diameter 150 km
Depth 3.3 km
Colongitude 354° at sunrise
Eponym Hipparchus

Hipparchus is the degraded remnant of a lunar impact crater. It is located to the southeast of Sinus Medii, near the center of the visible Moon. To the south is the prominent crater Albategnius, and to the southwest lies Ptolemaeus, a feature of comparable dimensions to Hipparchus. Horrocks lies entirely within the northeast rim of the crater. Halley is attached to the south rim, and Hind lies to the southeast. To the north-northeast is the bowl-shaped Pickering, and the flooded Saunder is located off the northeast rim.

The features of Hipparchus are highlighted when the Sun is at low angles during the first and last quarter. At full Moon the Sun is directly overhead and the crater contours become more difficult to discern.

High-resolution images of Hipparchus were obtained by Lunar Orbiter 5 in 1967.

Hipparchus lies in the middle of this image from Apollo 16

Description

This feature is an ancient crater that has been subject to considerable modification due to subsequent impacts. The western rim of Hipparchus has been all but worn away from impact erosion, and only low hills and rises in the surface remain to outline the feature. The wall to the east is somewhat more intact, but it too is heavily worn. A pair of deep clefts lie in the western wall. These parallel a sets of scars running through the south-central highlands.

The crater floor has been partially resurfaced by basaltic lava flow. The southwest part of the floor, however, is slightly raised and much more rugged than the remainder. A few small rises and the raised partial rim of a flooded crater are all that remain of a central massif.

Gaps in the northwest rim of Hipparchus form valleys that connect with the mare to the northwest. A rille named Rima Réaumur runs from this site to the outer wall of Réaumur.

Names

Hipparchus is named after the Greek astronomer, geographer and mathematician Hipparchus. Like many of the craters on the Moon's near side, it was given its name by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized.[1] Earlier lunar cartographers had given the feature different names. Johannes Hevelius called it "Olympus Mons", after Mount Olympus of Greece[2] The name Olympus Mons would later be named to the tallest mountain on Mars.

The early Hipparchus crater was first named by van Langren as "Hypparchi" in the northernmost of the lunar polar region. One possible location of that crater is where it is now known as Byrd Crater.[3]

Satellite craters

Hipparchus crater and its satellite craters taken from Earth in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory with the telescopes Meade LX200 14" and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Hipparchus.

Hipparchus G and W are to the east, Hipparchus L, S and Z are to the southeast, Hipparchus, J, Q, T, U are in the south-southwest, Hipparchus B and K are to the southwest, Hipparchus H and P are to the west and Hipparchus D, E and F are to the northwest.

In a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of Hipparchus G taken on June 3, 2014, Beautiful granular flows on the wall of Hipparchus G crater brought fresh debris from the rim down the walls, downslope is to the left. They are dominant in the east of that satellite crater[4]

Hipparchus Latitude Longitude Diameter
B 6.9° S 1.7° E 5 km
C 7.3° S 8.2° E 17 km
D 4.5° S 2.1° E 5 km
E 4.2° S 2.3° E 5 km
F 4.2° S 2.5° E 9 km
G 5.0° S 7.4° E 15 km
H 5.4° S 2.3° E 5 km
J 7.6° S 3.2° E 14 km
K 6.9° S 2.2° E 12 km
L 6.8° S 9.0° E 13 km
N 4.8° S 5.0° E 6 km
P 4.7° S 2.8° E 5 km
Q 8.5° S 2.9° E 8 km
T 7.1° S 3.6° E 8 km
U 6.7° S 3.6° E 8 km
W 5.0° S 7.8° E 5 km
X 5.7° S 4.9° E 17 km
Z 8.5° S 9.1° E 6 km

Hipparchus in fiction

In the French version of the Tintin book Explorers on the Moon (On a marché sur la lune), the crew lands on Hipparchus.[5]

Hipparchus crater and its surroundings in Weinek's Lunar Atlas (1898) - North is faced downward

Notes

  1. ↑ Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.61.
  2. ↑ Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
  3. ↑ Langrenus map of the Moon (1645)
  4. ↑ "Tender Tendrils". LROC. June 3, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  5. ↑ éd. Casterman, coll. Tintin, 1954 (French)

References

  • Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
  • Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  • Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
  • Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 978-0-936389-27-1.
  • McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  • Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763.
  • Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6.
  • Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3.
  • 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.
  • Wood, Chuck (January 31, 2004). "Hooke & Hipparchus". Lunar Photo of the Day.
  • Wood, Chuck (February 4, 2006). "On Approach for Landing". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017.
  • Wood, Chuck (October 17, 2006). "A Hole in the Middle". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017.
  • Wood, Chuck (May 27, 2007). "Drawings". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017.
  • Wood, Chuck (April 24, 2009). "Double Crossed". Lunar Photo of the Day.
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