Bowditch (crater)

Bowditch

Bowditch (lower left) and Perel'man (near center) from Apollo 15. Note the portion of Lacus Solitudinis along the bottom edge to the left. NASA photo.
Diameter	40 km
Depth	0.5 km
Colongitude	254° at sunrise
Eponym	Nathaniel Bowditch

Bowditch is a lunar crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the eastern limb. It is located on a region of the lunar surface that is brought into view due to libration, but at such times the area is viewed from the edge and so not much detail can be observed. It lies just to the north of the small Lacus Solitudinis lunar mare, between the craters Titius to the southwest and Perel'man to the east-northeast.

The rim of this crater is open to the southwest and the crater is elongated to the northeast, possibly due to a merged crater. The outer rim varies in height, with the most prominent sections being the southwest face and a ridge mount to the northwest. The interior floor has been flooded with basaltic lava, an unusual feature for a crater on the far side. The interior floor is generally flat, and marked by a number of small craterlets. However there are some low ridges in the surface that are concentric with the inner wall. A formation of irregular ridges occupies most of the rim gap along the southwest.

Nearby craters

Near the southern rim of this formation, at the northern edge of the Lacus Solitudinus, are four tiny craters that have been assigned individual names by the IAU. These are listed below.

Crater	Longitude	Latitude	Diameter	Name source
Bawa	25.3° N	102.6° E	1 km	African masculine name
Edith	25.8° N	102.3° E	8 km	English feminine name
Fairouz	26.1° N	102.3° E	3 km	Arabic feminine name
Karima	25.9° N	103.0° E	3 km	Arabic feminine name

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 Bowditch.

Bowditch	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
M	26.7° S	103.3° E	16 km
N	26.6° S	102.8° E	16 km

References

• Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• 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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revision ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• LTO-100C1 Titius — L&PI topographic map