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Lents (crater)

Coordinates: 2°48′N 102°06′W / 2.8°N 102.1°W / 2.8; -102.1
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Lents
LRO WAC image with Lents below left of center and Lents C above right of center
Coordinates2°48′N 102°06′W / 2.8°N 102.1°W / 2.8; -102.1
Diameter21 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude102° at sunrise
EponymHeinrich F. E. Lenz
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image with Lents at center and Lents C below right, facing west

Lents is a small lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located within the north-northwestern section of the immense skirt of ejecta that surrounds the Mare Orientale impact basin. To the south is the Montes Cordillera mountain ring, and to the north-northeast is the damaged crater Elvey.

This is a bowl-shaped formation with an interior floor that is about half the diameter of the crater. Attached to the northeastern exterior of Lents is the satellite crater Lents C, a feature of roughly the same dimension. Slightly more than a crater diameter to the east of Lents C is Pierazzo, which produced a broad, wispy ray system that extends for more than 100 km in all directions. The ray material from this impact lies across both Lents C and Lents, reaching as far north as Elvey.

On some maps, Lents is called Lenz.

Satellite craters

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By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Lents.

Lents Latitude Longitude Diameter
C 3.3° N 101.6° W 23 km
J 3.7° S 97.3° W 16 km
K 2.3° S 98.8° W 21 km

References

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  • Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
  • Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  • Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
  • Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 978-0-936389-27-1.
  • McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  • Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763. S2CID 122125855.
  • Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6.
  • Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3.
  • Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4.
  • Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3.
  • Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6.
  • Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1.