Bowditch is a lunar

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 that lies on the far side of the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

, just beyond the eastern limb. It is located on a region of the lunar surface that is brought into view due to libration

Libration

In astronomy, libration is an oscillating motion of orbiting bodies relative to each other, notably including the motion of the Moon relative to Earth, or of Trojan asteroids relative to planets.-Lunar libration:...

, but at such times the area is viewed from the edge and so not much detail can be observed. It lies just to the north of the small Lacus Solitudinis

Lacus Solitudinis

Lacus Solitudinis is a small lunar mare on the far side of the Moon. The selenographic coordinates of the lake are 27.8° S, 104.3° E, and it lies within a diameter of 139 km. It forms an arcing feature with the concave side oriented to the northwest...

 lunar mare

Lunar mare

The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They were dubbed maria, Latin for "seas", by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich compositions, and...

, between the craters Titius

Titius (crater)

Titius is a lunar crater that is located on the Moon's far side, beyond the eastern limb. It lies to the west of the Lacus Solitudinis, a small lunar mare...

 to the southwest and Perel'man

Perel'man (crater)

Perel'man is a worn impact crater that lies on the Moon's far side. It is located less than one crater diameter to the northwest of the prominent crater Scaliger. To the west-southwest is the elongated Bowditch. Southwest of Perel'man is a small lunar mare that has been named Lacus Solitudinis.This...

 to the east-northeast.

The rim of this crater is open to the southwest and the crater is elongated to the northeast, possibly due to a merged crater. The outer rim varies in height, with the most prominent sections being the southwest face and a ridge mount to the northwest. The interior floor has been flooded with basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

ic lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

, an unusual feature for a crater on the far side. The interior floor is generally flat, and marked by a number of small craterlets. However there are some low ridges in the surface that are concentric with the inner wall. A formation of irregular ridges occupies most of the rim gap along the southwest.

Nearby craters

Near the southern rim of this formation, at the northern edge of the Lacus Solitudinus, are four tiny craters that have been assigned individual names by the IAU

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

. These are listed below.

Crater	Longitude	Latitude	Diameter	Name source
Bawa	25.3° N	102.6° E	1 km	African masculine name
Edith	25.8° N	102.3° E	8 km	English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...  feminine name
Fairouz	26.1° N	102.3° E	3 km	Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...  feminine name
Karima	25.9° N	103.0° E	3 km	Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...  feminine name

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Bowditch.

Bowditch	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
M	26.7° S	103.3° E	16 km
N	26.6° S	102.8° E	16 km

External links

• LTO-100C1 Titius — L&PI topographic map
  Topographic map
  A topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines in modern mapping, but historically using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features...