Virtanen (crater)

Short description: Crater on the Moon

Virtanen

Lunar Orbiter 2 image

Diameter| 44 km
Depth| Unknown
Colongitude| 187° at sunrise
LRO WAC image

Virtanen is a lunar impact crater that is located to the northeast of the larger crater Sharonov, and to the east of Anderson. Virtanen lies on the far side of the Moon, and cannot be viewed directly from the Earth.

This crater has a nearly circular rim, with a relatively narrow inner wall and a small rise near the interior midpoint. A small crater Virtanen F near the eastern rim lies at the focus of a small ray system that covers much of Virtanen and its surroundings. The rays are wispy in nature and somewhat asymmetrical, with the distribution being much more expansive to the west. At the origin of the rays is a bright patch of higher-albedo surface.

The crater lies within the Freundlich-Sharonov Basin.

## 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 Virtanen.

Virtanen  | Coordinates  | Diameter, km

|
|

B  |  [ ⚑ ] 17°50′N 177°54′E﻿ / ﻿17.83°N 177.9°E﻿ / 17.83; 177.9﻿ (Virtanen B) | 27.3
C  |  [ ⚑ ] 17°17′N 178°12′E﻿ / ﻿17.28°N 178.2°E﻿ / 17.28; 178.2﻿ (Virtanen C) | 19.7
F  |  [ ⚑ ] 15°47′N 177°19′E﻿ / ﻿15.79°N 177.32°E﻿ / 15.79; 177.32﻿ (Virtanen F) | 11.6
J  |  [ ⚑ ] 14°02′N 178°04′E﻿ / ﻿14.03°N 178.06°E﻿ / 14.03; 178.06﻿ (Virtanen J) | 19.9
Z  |  [ ⚑ ] 16°45′N 176°40′E﻿ / ﻿16.75°N 176.66°E﻿ / 16.75; 176.66﻿ (Virtanen Z) | 34.1

## References

* 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. http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6406.
* 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. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780936389271.
* McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. http://host.planet4589.org/astro/lunar/.
* Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co.. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6. https://archive.org/details/patrickmooreonmo00patr.
* 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.

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