Licetus 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 ...

on the near side 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 ...

, in the rugged southern highland region. It lies to the south of the walled plain Stöfler, and is attached to the northern rim of the sub-divided crater

Heraclitus Heraclitus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, ...

. Just to the southeast is

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

. Licetus is 75 kilometers in diameter and 3.8 kilometers deep. It is from the

Pre-Nectarian The pre-Nectarian period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 4.533 billion years ago (the time of the initial formation of the Moon) to 3.920 billion years ago, when the Nectaris Basin was formed by a large impact. It is followed by the Necta ...

period, 4.55 to 3.92 billion years ago.''Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition''. CD-ROM. Meade, April 2006. It is a worn crater formation with several craterlets across its rim and along its inner wall. The most notable of these is a small crater across the inner southeast rim, with another across the northwest rim. The rim is also especially worn along the northern end, with a cluster of tiny craterlets along the rim lip and the inner wall. The interior floor is relatively flat, with some minor ridges and slips in the southern half. There are small craterlets along the floor's west-southwest and eastern edges. The crater is named after

Fortunio Liceti Fortunio Liceti (Latin: ''Fortunius Licetus''; October 3, 1577 – May 17, 1657) was an Italian physician and philosopher. Early life He was born prematurely at Rapallo, near Genoa to Giuseppe Liceti and Maria Fini, while the family was moving ...

, a 17th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

philosopher and physicist.

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 Licetus.

References

{{Reflist Impact craters on the Moon Pre-Nectarian