Petit (crater)

Petit (crater)

Oblique view of Petit from Apollo 11
Coordinates 2°18′N 63°30′E / 2.3°N 63.5°E / 2.3; 63.5Coordinates: 2°18′N 63°30′E / 2.3°N 63.5°E / 2.3; 63.5
Diameter 5 km
Depth Unknown
Colongitude 297° at sunrise
Eponym Alexis T. Petit
Not to be confused with Pettit, another lunar crater.

Petit is a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater that is located on the northwestern edge of the Mare Spumans. The crater has a prominent ray system. The name is appropriate, since Petit means small in French. But it was actually named in honor of Alexis Thérèse Petit, a French physicist.

The crater lies to the south of the crater Townley, and east of Condon. Farther to the northwest is Apollonius. Petit was previously designated Apollonius W before being given a name by the IAU.

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.