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Diophantus (crater)
Encyclopedia
Diophantus is a lunar
impact crater
that lies in the southwestern part of the Mare Imbrium
. It forms a pair with the larger crater Delisle
to the north. Diophantus has a wide inner wall and a low central rise. To the north of Diophantus is the sinuous rille
designated Rima Diophantus, named after the crater. There is a tiny craterlet near the exterior of the southwest wall.
. These are listed in the table below.
The following craters have been renamed by the IAU
.
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...
impact 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 in the southwestern part of the Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...
. It forms a pair with the larger crater Delisle
Delisle (crater)
Delisle is a small lunar crater in the western part of the Mare Imbrium. It lies to the north of the crater Diophantus, and just to the northwest of the ridge designated Mons Delisle. Between Delisle and Diophantus is a sinuous rille named Rima Diophantus, with a diameter of 150 km...
to the north. Diophantus has a wide inner wall and a low central rise. To the north of Diophantus is the sinuous rille
Rille
Rille is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the lunar surface that resemble channels. Typically a rille can be up to several kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers in length...
designated Rima Diophantus, named after the crater. There is a tiny craterlet near the exterior of the southwest wall.
Rima Diophantus
This cleft follows a generally east–west path across the Mare Imbrium. It is centered at selenographic coordinates 31.0° N, 32.0° W, and has a maximum diameter of 150 km. Several tiny craters near this rille have been assigned names by the IAUInternational 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 in the table below.
| Crater | Coordinates | Diameter | Name source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isabel | 28.2°N 34.1°W | 1 km | Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... feminine name |
| Louise | 28.5°N 34.2°W | 0.8 km | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... feminine name |
| Samir | 28.5°N 34.3°W | 2 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... masculine name |
| Walter1 | 28.0°N 33.8°W | 1 km | German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... masculine name |
| 1 | Not to be confused with the large crater Walther Walther (crater) Walther is an ancient lunar impact crater located in the southern highland region of the Moon. It is joined along the western rim to the crater Deslandres... in the southern hemisphere Sphere A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point... which is misidentified as 'Walter' in some publications |
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 Diophantus.| Diophantus | Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | 29.1° N | 32.5° W | 6 km |
| C | 27.3° N | 34.7° W | 5 km |
| D | 26.9° N | 36.3° W | 4 km |
The following craters have been renamed 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...
.
- Diophantus A — See ArtsimovichArtsimovich (crater)Artsimovich is a small lunar impact crater located in the western Mare Imbrium of the Earth's Moon. This is a circular crater forming a cup-shaped excavation in the surface of the lunar mare. To the east is the crater Diophantus and to the northeast lies Delisle. Less than 20 kilometers to the...
.
External links
- LTO-39B3 Diophantus — L&PI topographic mapTopographic mapA 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...
of crater and vicinity.