Fermi is a large

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

of the category named a walled plain. It was named after Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...

. It 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 surrealis ...

of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and can not be viewed from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. Thus this feature must be viewed from an orbiting

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

. The most notable aspect of Fermi is that the large and prominent crater Tsiolkovskiy intrudes into its southeastern rim. Unlike Tsiolkovskiy, however, the interior of Fermi is not covered by dark

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

, and so it is barely distinguishable from the surrounding rugged and battered

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

. If it were located on the near side of the Moon, however, this would be one of the largest visible craters, with a dimension roughly equal to the crater

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * Hu ...

, lying several hundred kilometers to the west-southwest. This formation has been significantly eroded and damaged by subsequent impacts, and several notable craters lie across the rim and within the basin. Delporte is the most notable of these, lying across the northwest rim. Just to the east and inside the northern rim of Fermi is Litke. The smaller crater

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

is centered across the southern rim. In the southern half of the floor are the craters

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

and Babakin. The rim, where it survives, is the most intact along the northern half. The southern half of the rim has been nearly obliterated, forming an irregular stretch of ground. The interior floor of Fermi has been modified by the creation of Tsiolkovskiy, with striations in the northeastern floor of Fermi, and parallel ridges along the western rim of Tsiolkovskiy. The remaining sections of the floor is somewhat more level, although pock-marked by myriads of tiny craterlets. The central section of the floor in particular has several clustered crater formations. Prior to formal naming in 1970 by the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

, the crater was known as ''Basin V''.Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)
/ref>

References

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External links

The following are L&PI

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

s that show portions of Fermi.
LTO-101B1 Litke
— northern half
LTO-101B4 Babakin
— southern half {{Craters on the Moon: C-F Impact craters on the Moon