Clerke is a tiny lunar

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 ...

named after Irish astronomer Agnes Mary Clerke, who played a role in bringing astronomy and astrophysics to the public in Victorian England.LROC: Clerke Crater
/ref> It is located near the eastern edge of

Mare Serenitatis Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is . Geology Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian ...

in the midst of a

rille Rille (German for 'groove') is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the surface of the Moon that resemble channels. The Latin term is ''rima'', plural ''rimae''. Typically, a rille can be several kilometers w ...

system named the Rimae Littrow after the crater Littrow to the east. It is roughly circular and cup-shaped, with a relatively high

albedo Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is Diffuse reflection, diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects ...

. In a valley to the southeast is the landing site of the

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

mission. Clerke was previously designated Littrow B.

References

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External links

Closeup of Clerke
by

Lunar Orbiter 5 Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the "Lunar Orbiter series", was designed to take additional Project Apollo, Apollo and Surveyor program, Surveyor landing site photography and to take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moon's far sid ...

LTO-42C2 Clerke
— 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 ...

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

See also

References

External links