Whewell is a
lunarimpact crater that lies on a stretch of
lava-resurfaced terrain to the west of
Mare Tranquillitatis. Its diameter is 13 km. It was named after the 19th-century English philosopher and naturalist,
William Whewell.[1] It is located to the east of the disintegrated crater
Tempel and north-northwest of
D'Arrest. To the east is
Cayley, a slightly larger but very similar formation. To the North lies the
Rima Ariadaeus, which is a linear rille that is 300 kilometers long and was formed when a section of the Moon's crust sank down between two parallel fault lines, producing a
graben. Further north again, lies the 90 km wide crater
Julius Caesar.
This is a circular, bowl-shaped crater with interior walls that slope down gently to a small interior floor. This crater has not been significantly eroded, and the rim is well-defined.
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 Whewell.
Whewell
Latitude
Longitude
Diameter
A
4.7° N
14.1° E
4 km
B
5.0° N
14.5° E
3 km
References
^"Whewell (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
Andersson, L. E.;
Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
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.
S2CID122125855.
Wood, Chuck (December 12, 2006).
"How Deep is That Hole". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from
the original on June 14, 2011. - includes a couple of craters such as Whewell