User:LaughingVulcan/sandbox/Cassini (lunar crater) improvements

Taken 10/11/16, Last Prior Edit January 2016


 * This is about the lunar crater; for the Martian one, see Cassini (Martian crater).



Cassini is a flooded lunar impact crater of 57 km diameter that is located in the Palus Nebularum, at the eastern end of Mare Imbrium, whose center lies at selenographic coordinates 40.25°N, 4.64°E. To the northeast is the Promontorium Agassiz, the southern tip of the Montes Alpes mountain range. South by south-east of Cassini is the crater Theaetetus. To the northwest is the lone peak Mons Piton.

The floor of Cassini is flooded, and is likely as old as the surrounding mare. The surface is peppered with a multitude of impacts, including a pair of significant craters contained entirely within the rim. Cassini A is the larger of these two, and it lies just north-east of the crater center. A hilly ridge area runs from this inner crater toward the south-east. Near the south-west rim of Cassini is the smaller crater Cassini B.

The walls of this crater are narrow and irregular in form but remain intact despite the lava flooding. Beyond the crater rim is a significant and irregular outer rampart.

For unknown reasons, this crater was omitted from early maps of the Moon. This crater is not of recent origin, however, so the omission was most likely an error on the part of the map-makers.

Cassini was named for Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625-1712,) the discoverer of the Cassini Division of Saturn's rings and four of Saturn's moons among other astronomical discoveries. The name was confirmed by the International Astronomical Union in 1935.

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 Cassini. Craters A and B are located on the floor of Cassini proper.