Palisa is the remnant of a lunar impact crater that is located to the west of the walled plain Ptolemaeus. It lies to the north-northeast of the crater Davy, and is attached to the lava-flooded satellite crater Davy Y by a wide break in the southwest rim. The crater is named after the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa.[1]

The crater area in a Selenochromatic format Image (Si)
Palisa
Apollo 16 image
Coordinates9°24′S 7°12′W / 9.4°S 7.2°W / -9.4; -7.2
Diameter33 km
Depth0.9 km
Colongitude7° at sunrise
EponymJohann Palisa

The rim of Palisa is worn and eroded, especially in the western half where there are multiple gaps that join the crater floor to the Mare Nubium to the west. The interior is nearly flat, and marked only by a pair of tiny craterlets in the southwest gap. The larger of this crater pair is designated Palisa P. Additional satellite craterlets D, A, and W lie just outside the northeast rim.

Satellite craters edit

 
Palisa crater and its satellite craters taken from Earth in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory with the telescopes Meade LX200 14" and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1

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

Palisa Latitude Longitude Diameter
A 9.0° S 6.7° W 5 km
C 7.7° S 6.4° W 9 km
D 8.6° S 6.9° W 8 km
E 8.4° S 5.7° W 18 km
P 9.6° S 7.3° W 5 km
T 8.2° S 8.2° W 12 km
W 9.1° S 6.3° W 4 km

References edit

  1. ^ "Palisa (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.

External links edit