McNair (crater)

McNair
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image of McNair (left) and Jarvis (right)
Coordinates35°42′S 147°18′W / 35.7°S 147.3°W / -35.7; -147.3
Diameter29 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude148° at sunrise
EponymRonald E. McNair

McNair is a small lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies within the double-ringed Apollo basin, inside the eastern part of the interior ring. It has partly merged with the crater Jarvis, and the two share a common rim. To the south of McNair lies Borman.

This is a bowl-shaped feature with a somewhat worn outer rim. There are some tiny craterlets along the southern rim, and a narrow cut through the edge to the south-southwest. The interior floor is relatively featureless.

The crater name was approved by the IAU in 1988 in honor of Ronald McNair, killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.[1] The crater was formerly designated Borman A, a satellite crater of Borman.

References

  1. ^ McNair crater, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
  • 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.
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  • 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.