Kurchatov 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 on 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 ...

's far side. It is just to the southwest of the crater Wiener, and farther to the southeast of Bridgman. A couple of crater diameters to the south of Kurchatov is the northern edge of the

Mare Moscoviense ; ) is a lunar mare that sits in the Moscoviense basin. It is one of the very few maria on the far side of the Moon. Geology Like Mare Marginis, this mare appears to be fairly thin. However, it is clearly centered within a large impact basin. ...

. This is a worn and eroded crater formation, with a pair of small craters lying across the northern rim, and a generally worn and pitted rim and inner wall. A small crater lies along the northern inner wall and a bowl-shaped crater at the northwest edge of the interior floor. There is a small, elongated central ridge near the midpoint, and the interior floor is pitted with tiny craterlets. Beginning to the south of Kurchatov and running toward the west-northwest is a crater chain designated Catena Kurchatov. The chain ends to the southeast of

Becquerel The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as an activity of one per second, on average, for aperiodic activity events referred to a radionuclide. For applicatio ...

. The trend of the chain points back toward

Mare Orientale Mare Orientale (Latin ''orientāle'', the "eastern sea") is a lunar mare. It is located on the western border of the near side and far side of the Moon, and is difficult to see from an Earthbound perspective. Images from spacecraft have revea ...

and it may be secondary craters from that impact. Prior to formal naming 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 ...

in 1961, Kurchatov was called ''Crater 126''.Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)
2nd Edition October 1967

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 Kurchatov.

References

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External links

Digital Lunar Orbiter Photo Number V-124-H2
Impact craters on the Moon