Jeans (lunar crater)

Coordinates: 55°48′S 91°24′E / 55.8°S 91.4°E / -55.8; 91.4
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Jeans
Coordinates55°48′S 91°24′E / 55.8°S 91.4°E / -55.8; 91.4
Diameter79 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude270° at sunrise
EponymJames Jeans
Apollo 15 image

Jeans is a lunar impact crater, on the southeastern limb of the Moon, with its majority lying on the far side. A favorable libration can bring the entire crater into view, but even then the details observable from Earth are very limited as the crater is viewed rather "edge-on".

Jeans is located nearly midway between the much larger walled plain Lyot on the near side and the crater Chamberlin on the far side. It has a heavily worn and rounded outer rim, and several impacts lie along the southern and southeastern edge and inner wall. The most prominent of these intersecting craters are Jeans G across the eastern rim. The interior floor of the main crater has been resurfaced by basaltic lava, leaving a dark level surface marked only by a few tiny craterlets.

Satellite craters[edit]

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Jeans.

Jeans Latitude Longitude Diameter
B 52.4° S 94.8° E 11 km
G 56.0° S 93.3° E 22 km
N 58.7° S 90.5° E 64 km
S 56.8° S 86.8° E 56 km
U 54.7° S 86.5° E 57 km
X 53.5° S 89.4° E 44 km
Y 51.2° S 90.5° E 17 km

References[edit]

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