Mezentsev (crater)

Mezentsev

Clementine mosaic
Coordinates	72.1°N 128.7°W / 72.1; -128.7
Diameter	89 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	133° at sunrise
Eponym	Yurij B. Mezentsev

Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image, facing west

Mezentsev is a lunar impact crater that is located in the high northern latitudes on the Moon's far side. It lies just to the west of the smaller Niepce. To the southwest is the larger Stebbins, to the west-southwest is Hippocrates and to the northwest is Heymans.

This is a worn and eroded crater with a low outer rim and a relatively level interior. The circular nature of the rim can still be seen, but a number of impacts lie across the rim and the edge is generally softened and rounded. A smaller, unnamed crater is attached to the southwestern rim, with the satellite crater Mezentsev S laid across the western rim of this feature. The interior floor is roughly level but with some small craterlets marking the surface. The most prominent of these is a fresh, cup-shaped crater in the western half of the interior.

On some maps this crater has been labelled 'Mesentsev'.

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 Mezentsev.

Mezentsev	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
M	68.7° N	126.8° W	74 km
Q	69.4° N	135.6° W	26 km
S	71.5° N	136.9° W	21 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.