Vitello (crater)

Vitello

Coordinates 30°24′S 37°30′W / 30.4°S 37.5°W / -30.4; -37.5Coordinates: 30°24′S 37°30′W / 30.4°S 37.5°W / -30.4; -37.5
Diameter 42 km
Depth 1.7 km
Colongitude 37° at sunrise
Eponym Erazmus C. Witelo
Lunar Orbiter 5 closeup of an area west of the central peak, showing large boulders on the surface.

Vitello is a lunar crater that lies along the southern edge of the small Mare Humorum, in the southwest part of the Moon's near side. It lies just to the east of the lava-flooded crater Lee. To the northeast along the edge of the lunar mare is the Rupes Kelvin, an irregular fault line.

This crater has a low, roughly circular rim with a sharp edge. The interior floor is irregular, rugged and hilly, with a smaller, concentric crater offset to the east of the midpoint. A low ridge projects out from the northwest rim into the mare.

Vitello was once believed to be a caldera rather than an impact crater. In To A Rocky Moon, lunar geologist Don E. Wilhelms summarized: It "is a Saari-Shorthill infrared hotspot,[1] is fractured, and is blanketed and surrounded by a dark deposit. If there is a caldera on the moon, this ought to be it." However, Lunar Orbiter 5 acquired high-resolution images of the interior and geologists noted that the fractures were filled with boulders which caused the infrared anomaly, and so volcanic heat was not escaping from Vitello. Wilhelms concluded "...if it is a caldera, its activity expired long ago."[2]

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 Vitello.

Vitello Latitude Longitude Diameter
A 34.1° S 41.9° W 21 km
B 31.1° S 35.4° W 11 km
C 32.4° S 42.5° W 14 km
D 33.2° S 41.0° W 18 km
E 29.2° S 35.8° W 7 km
G 32.3° S 37.6° W 10 km
H 32.8° S 43.0° W 12 km
K 31.9° S 37.6° W 13 km
L 31.6° S 35.3° W 7 km
M 32.4° S 36.0° W 7 km
N 32.1° S 36.1° W 5 km
P 31.2° S 38.4° W 9 km
R 33.0° S 37.0° W 3 km
S 30.8° S 35.2° W 6 km
T 33.8° S 39.6° W 9 km
X 32.2° S 40.6° W 8 km

References

  1. ↑ Shorthill, R. W., and Saari, J. M. 1966, Recent discovery of hot spots on the lunar surface - a brief report of infrared measurements on the eclipsed Moon. in Hess, W. N., Menzel, D. H., and O'Keefe, J. A., eds. The nature of the lunar surface - Proceedings of the 1965 IAU-NASA symposium: Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press p. 215-228
  2. ↑ To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration. Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press (1993). ISBN 978-0816510658
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