Baily (crater)

Baily
Lunar Orbiter 4 image showing Baily (upper left) and Baily A (lower right)
Coordinates49°42′N 30°24′E / 49.7°N 30.4°E / 49.7; 30.4
Diameter25.68 km (15.96 mi)[1]
Depth0.52 km (0.32 mi)[2]
Colongitude330° at sunrise
EponymFrancis Baily
Location of the lunar crater Baily as photographed at the McDonald Observatory

Baily is the remnant of a lunar impact crater on the boundary between Mare Frigoris to the north and Lacus Mortis to the south.[3] The nearest crater of note is Bürg to the south-southwest. To the west of Baily is a pyroclastic vent.[4] Further to the west is the prominent Aristoteles.[5]

The crater interior has been flooded by basaltic mare in the past, and only the northern half of the crater rim remains relatively intact. There is an outward bulge in the northeastern rim, possibly the remnant of another crater formation that once overlapped Baily. Save for an unnamed rill running across the floor,[6] the crater interior is flat and relatively featureless, with no impacts of significance.[7]: 13  The surviving outer rim reaches a maximum elevation of about 0.5 km.

This crater is named after British astronomer Francis Baily (1774-1844).[1] The name was introduced into lunar nomenclature by German astronomer Johann von Mädler.[8] Its designation was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1935.[1]

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 Baily.[9]

Baily[7]: 292  Latitude Longitude Diameter
A 48.6° N 31.3° E 16 km
B 51.0° N 35.1° E 7 km
K 51.5° N 30.5° E 3 km

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Baily". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  2. ↑ Pike, R. J. (September 1976). "Crater Dimensions from Apollo Data and Supplemental Sources". The Moon. 15 (3–4): 463–477. Bibcode:1976Moon...15..463P. doi:10.1007/BF00562253.
  3. ↑ Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6.
  4. ↑ Bickel, Valentin Tertius; et al. (June 2020). "Impacts drive lunar rockfalls over billions of years". Nature Communications. 11. id. 2862. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.2862B. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16653-3. PMC 7280507.
  5. ↑ "LAC 13" (PDF). Gazeteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Retrieved 2026-06-10.
  6. ↑ "LAC-13 Aristoteles". Lunar Chart (LAC) Series. Lunar and Planetary Institute. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  7. 1 2 Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
  8. ↑ Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120, 219. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6.
  9. ↑ Grego, P. (2015). "Satellite Crater". In Hargitai, H.; Kereszturi, Á. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_328.

Sources

  • 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.
  • Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1.
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Baily (crater) at Wikimedia Commons
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.