Brianchon is a

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 ...

that is located along the northwestern limb 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 ...

. Due to its location, 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 ...

the crater is seen from the edge and its visibility is somewhat affected by

libration In lunar astronomy, libration is the cyclic variation in the apparent position of the Moon that is perceived by observers on the Earth and caused by changes between the orbital and rotational planes of the moon. It causes an observer to see ...

. Thus for a more detailed view, the crater must be viewed from

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

. This crater lies just to the west of the crater Pascal, and Desargues is to the southeast. To the south of Brianchon along the limb is the crater

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, while Lindblad lies to the southwest just on the far side of the Moon. Brianchon has been worn and eroded by a history of impacts that followed its creation. The most prominent of these are a pair of craters that lie across the northern rim, and Brianchon B which intrudes slightly into the southern rim. Brianchon A forms an outward bulge in the rim to the northwest, but otherwise merges seamlessly into the crater formation. There is also a concentric crater formation intruding into the exterion of the southeastern rim. The remainder of the outer wall has been rounded, and is covered in a number of tiny craterlets. The floor of the crater is relatively level, and is marked by a multitude of tiny craterlets. The most prominent of these is a small, bowl-shaped crater just to the northwest of the midpoint. The southern portion of the crater floor in particular contains a grouping of several tiny craterlets.

Satellite craters

These features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Brianchon.

References

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External links

* {{Craters on the Moon: A–B Impact craters on the Moon