Wallach is a tiny lunar impact crater located in the eastern Mare Tranquillitatis. It was named after German chemist and Nobel laureate Otto Wallach in 1979.[1] It is a circular, bowl-shaped feature with a negligible interior floor; the inner walls just slope down to the midpoint of the crater. Wallach is located to the northeast of the crater Maskelyne, near some low ridges in the lunar mare. It was previously identified as Maskelyne H before being given a name by the IAU.
 Apollo 15 mapping camera image | |
| Coordinates | 4°53′N 32°16′E / 4.89°N 32.27°E |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 5.74 km |
| Depth | 1.54 km |
| Colongitude | 328° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Otto Wallach |
An unusual and apparently unnamed elongate crater about 2 km x 5 km in size and about 44 km east of Wallach was the subject of a landmark tracking exercise on Apollo 8 in December 1968.[2] The feature was photographed repeatedly from its emergence on the horizon to after the Command Module had passed directly over it.
References
edit- ^ "Wallach (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- ^ Apollo 8 Flight Journal, Photography Index, 70-mm Magazine E, photos AS08-13-2271 to AS08-13-2309
- Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
- 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.
External links
edit- LTO-61D1 Wallach, Lunar Topographic Orthophotomap (LTO) Series