Kovalʹskiy (crater)

Kovalʹskiy
Apollo 15 image
Coordinates21°54′S 101°00′E / 21.9°S 101.0°E / -21.9; 101.0
Diameter49 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude259° at sunrise
EponymMarian A. Kowalski

Kovalʹskiy is a crater on the far side of the Moon.[1] It lies about one crater diameter to the southeast of the prominent Sklodowska, and to the north-northwest of Bowditch and Lacus Solitudinis, a small lunar mare.

This feature has been heavily damaged by overlapping impacts, leaving it scarcely distinguishable from the irregular lunar terrain. The satellite crater Kovalʹskiy P lies across the southwestern rim, and Kovalʹskiy B intrudes into the northeastern rim. A small crater also lies across the northwestern rim. The interior is irregular and marked by several small craterlets.

Kovalʹskiy K lies at the midpoint of a high-albedo patch. A single faint ray extends to the southeast directly across Kovalʹsky.

Satellite craters

Kovalʹskiy P crater, from Apollo 15

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Kovalʹskiy.[2]

Kovalʹskiy Latitude Longitude Diameter
B 20.8° S 101.5° E 28 km
D 20.9° S 103.0° E 19 km
H 22.5° S 102.6° E 37 km
M 23.8° S 100.8° E 18 km
P 22.4° S 100.3° E 25 km
Q 23.5° S 98.7° E 35 km
U 21.1° S 98.1° E 25 km
Y 20.8° S 100.5° E 19 km

Kovalʹskiy P dates to the Eratosthenian period and has a meteoritic iron-rich impact melt.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Moore, Patrick (2000). The Data Book of Astronomy. CRC Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-4200-3344-1.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Hu, Haojin; et al. (November 2025). "Lunar highland preserves meteoritic-iron-rich materials in the Earth─Moon system". The Astrophysical Journal. 993 (1). id. 148. Bibcode:2025ApJ...993..148H. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae08b5.

Sources