Kinau (crater)

Kinau
Coordinates 60°48′S 15°06′E / 60.8°S 15.1°E / -60.8; 15.1Coordinates: 60°48′S 15°06′E / 60.8°S 15.1°E / -60.8; 15.1
Diameter 42 km
Depth 2.0 km
Colongitude 346° at sunrise
Eponym Adolph Gottfried Kinau

Kinau is a small, eroded lunar crater that is located in the low southern latitudes of the Moon. It lies to the southeast of the crater Jacobi, and about equally far to the north-northwest of Pentland. It is 42 kilometers in diameter and two kilometers deep. It may be from the Pre-Nectarian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago.[1]

The northwestern rim and inner wall of this crater has been heavily damaged by impacts, and is overlaid by a pair of small, cup-shaped craters. The remainder of the rim is worn and somewhat distorted into a hexagonal shape, with several small craterlets along the rim edge. The inner walls are relatively low, and the interior floor is almost featureless except for a few tiny craterlets. There is a low rise near the midpoint that is attached to the small crater to the northwest.[2]

The crater is named after 19th century German priest, teacher and amateur astronomer Adolph Gottfried Kinau.[3]

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 Kinau.[4]

Kinau Latitude Longitude Diameter
A 62.1° S 20.0° E 35 km
B 61.6° S 19.2° E 8 km
C 60.6° S 20.5° E 30 km
D 60.6° S 18.5° E 27 km
E 60.1° S 20.0° E 7 km
F 62.1° S 13.5° E 10 km
G 61.5° S 12.7° E 25 km
H 59.8° S 19.7° E 6 km
J 59.6° S 16.0° E 5 km
K 58.6° S 18.1° E 10 km
L 59.3° S 18.8° E 11 km
M 60.4° S 14.3° E 12 km
N 61.4° S 15.5° E 7 km
P 61.4° S 17.4° E 5 km
Q 62.4° S 21.1° E 11 km
R 59.9° S 11.6° E 61 km

Notes

  1. ^ The botanist C.A. Kinau was struck from the official list of the USGS in April 2007 and replaced by the correct eponym Adolph Gottfried Kinau.[3]

References

  1. Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition. CD-ROM. Meade, April 2006.
  2. Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-913135-17-8.
  3. 1 2 R.A. Garfinkle and B. Pfeiffer: "Discovery of the real person behind the name of the lunar crater Kinau", Journal of the British Astronomical Association 117 (2007) 81
  4. Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81528-2.
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