Chaplygin is a large lunar

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...

that lies on the

far side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealisti ...

of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

. It is located to the southeast of the huge walled plain

Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) ( ; russian: links=no, Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, tr. , ; 8 February O.S. 27 January">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="no ...

, about midway between the craters

Schliemann Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann (; 6 January 1822 – 26 December 1890) was a German businessman and pioneer in the field of archaeology. He was an advocate of the historicity of places mentioned in the works of Homer and an archaeologi ...

to the northeast and Marconi to the southwest. It is about the same size as

Albategnius Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī ( ar, محمد بن جابر بن سنان البتاني) ( Latinized as Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius) (c. 858 – 929) was an astron ...

on the near side. The rim of this crater is roughly circular; however, the edge is uneven. The inner wall is

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

d around much of the circumference, and this structure is somewhat disrupted along the southern side. The rim is only mildly eroded, with few craters around the edge — the exception being Chaplygin K which is intruding into the inner wall along the southeast side. Within the walls is an interior plain that is level and smooth in comparison to the rugged terrain that surrounds the exterior of the crater. There is a central peak near the midpoint, and a few tiny craters lie scattered across the surface. A small, bright crater on the northeastern rim is called Chaplygin B. It is nicknamed ''Chappy'' by the

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team.LROC
Chappy Oblique
Posted by Mark Robinson on March 18, 2016.

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 Chaplygin.

References

* * * * * * * * * Impact craters on the Moon {{Craters on the Moon: C-F