Alder (crater)

Alder
Clementine mosaic
Coordinates48°36′S 177°24′W / 48.6°S 177.4°W / -48.6; -177.4
Diameter77 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude180° at sunrise
EponymKurt Alder
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image

Alder is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It is located in the South Pole-Aitken basin, and lies to the southeast of the crater Von Kármán. Southeast of Alder is Bose, and to the south-southwest lies Boyle.

The inner wall of Alder is rough and slightly terraced, with the material scattered across the edges of the otherwise relatively flat interior floor. There are several low central ridges lying along a band from the midpoint toward the eastern rim. A small crater lies on the eastern inner slopes. The crater is otherwise free of significant impacts within the rim.

Alder is associated with the only area in the basin not dominated by the pyroxene rocks typical of lunar lowlands. This alder ejecta area is on spectrographic evidence instead principally anorthosite rock, typical of the lunar highlands.[citation needed]

Satellite craters

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

Alder Latitude Longitude Diameter
E 47.6° S 172.3° W 16 km

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. S2CID 122125855.
  • 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.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alder (crater).
  • Taylor, G. J. (July 1998). "The Biggest Hole in the Solar System". Planetary Science Research Discoveries. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-25. (This article on South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin mentions Alder crater.)