Linné is a small
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 ...
located in the western
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 ...
. It was named after Swedish botanist
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
. The
mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...
around this feature is virtually devoid of other features of interest. The nearest named crater is
Banting
Banting is a town and the seat of Kuala Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Banting has a population of 93,497. The postal code for Banting is 42700 and is administered by the Zone of 15 and 19 of the Kuala Langat Municipal Council. It is situ ...
to the east-southeast.
The estimated age of this
copernican crater is only a few tens of millions of years. It was earlier believed to have a bowl shape, but data from the
LRO showed that it has a shape of a flattened, inverted cone. The crater is surrounded by a blanket of ejecta formed during the original impact. This ejecta has 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 ...
, making the feature appear bright.
In 1824 Wilhelm Lohrmann (1786-1840) of Dresden had drawn Linné as an 8 km diameter crater in his acclaimed lunar atlas, and in 1837
Wilhelm Beer and
Johann Heinrich Mädler had described Linne in ''Der Mond'' as a 10 km crater. In 1866, the experienced lunar observer and mapmaker
Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt made the surprising claim that Linné had changed its appearance. Instead of a normal, somewhat deep crater it had become a mere white patch. A controversy arose that continued for many decades. However, this crater size tests the limit of visual perception of Earth-based telescopes. In conditions of poor visibility this feature can appear to vanish from sight
"The Linne' crater ", ''The Lunascan Project''
/ref> (see also transient lunar phenomenon
A transient lunar phenomenon (TLP) or lunar transient phenomenon (LTP) is a short-lived change in light, color or appearance on the surface of the Moon. The term was created by Patrick Moore in his co-authorship of NASA Technical Report R-277 ''Ch ...
).
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 Linné.
The following craters have been renamed 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 ...
.
* Linné E — ''See'' Banting (crater).
References
Bibliography
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External links
LTO-42A4 Linne
— 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 ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Linne (crater)
Impact craters on the Moon
Mare Serenitatis
Commemoration of Carl Linnaeus
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