Stoney (lunar crater)

Stoney
Clementine mosaic
Coordinates55°18′S 156°06′W / 55.3°S 156.1°W / -55.3; -156.1
Diameter47.51 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude158° at sunrise
FormationNectarian[1]
EponymGeorge J. Stoney
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image

Stoney is an impact crater on the Moon, located in the southern part of its far side,[2] approximately 47.5 kilometers in diameter. In 1970, it was named by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature after Anglo-Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney (1826–1911).[3] It lies to the southeast of the crater Baldet and to the east of Bhabha.

On the lunar geologic timescale, Stoney dates to the Nectarian period.[1] The rim of this crater is sharp-edged but with a somewhat irregular lip that has slumped in places. There are small outward bulges in the rim to the east and northwest. The inner wall is uneven with diagonal grooves and heaps where the material has slumped.

This is a floor-fractured crater with a V-shaped moat between the inner wall and the floor.[4] The interior floor is somewhat uneven, especially in the eastern half. There are two small craterlets within the interior, located at the base of the northeast and southern inner walls. The spectra of the central peak fits a olivine-bearing noritic gabbro mineralogy, which originated from a depth of 11.0 to 17.8 km.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Moriarty, D. P.; Pieters, C. M. (March 2018). "The Character of South Pole-Aitken Basin: Patterns of Surface and Subsurface Composition". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 123 (3): 729–747. Bibcode:2018JGRE..123..729M. doi:10.1002/2017JE005364.
  2. ↑ Moore, Patrick (2000). The Data Book of Astronomy. CRC Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4200-3344-1.
  3. ↑ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature – Stoney". usgs.gov. Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature – International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. ↑ Jozwiak, Lauren M.; et al. (November 2012). "Lunar floor-fractured craters: Classification, distribution, origin and implications for magmatism and shallow crustal structure". Journal of Geophysical Research. 117 (E11) E11005. Bibcode:2012JGRE..11711005J. doi:10.1029/2012JE004134. hdl:1721.1/85651.
  5. ↑ Cahill, J. T. S.; et al. (September 2009). "Compositional variations of the lunar crust: Results from radiative transfer modeling of central peak spectra". Journal of Geophysical Research. 114 (E9) E09001. Bibcode:2009JGRE..114.9001C. doi:10.1029/2008JE003282.

Sources