Albategnius is an ancient

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impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...

located in the central highlands. It is named after the Mesopotamian Muslim astronomer and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī, Latinized as ''Albategnius''.

Description

The level interior of Albategnius forms a walled plain, surrounded by the high,

terraced In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

rim. The outer wall is somewhat hexagon-shaped, and has been heavily eroded with impacts, valleys and landslips. It attains a height above 4,000 metres along the northeast face. The rim is broken in the southwest by the smaller crater Klein. Offset to the west of the crater's midpoint is its central peak, designated Alpha (α) Albategnius. It is longest in extent in the north–south direction, extending for just under 20 kilometres, and has a width about half that. The peak rises to an altitude of roughly 1.5 km, and there is a tiny, relatively fresh crater at the top.

Location

Albategnius is located to the south of the crater

Hipparchus Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equi ...

, to the east of

Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

and Alphonsus. The surface in this area is marked by a set of nearly parallel scars that form

channels Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

running roughly in a north–south line, bent slightly to the southeast.

Observations

Albategnius is believed to have been featured prominently in an early sketch drawing by

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

in his book

Sidereus Nuncius ''Sidereus Nuncius'' (usually ''Sidereal Messenger'', also ''Starry Messenger'' or ''Sidereal Message'') is a short astronomical treatise (or ''pamphlet'') published in New Latin by Galileo Galilei on March 13, 1610. It was the first published ...

published in 1610, appearing along the

lunar terminator A terminator or twilight zone is a moving line that divides the daylit side and the dark night side of a planetary body. The terminator is defined as the locus of points on a planet or moon where the line through the center of its parent star i ...

Names

Albategnius is named after Mesopotamian Arab astronomer

Al-Battani Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī ( ar, محمد بن جابر بن سنان البتاني) ( Latinized as Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius) (c. 858 – 929) was an astron ...

. Like many of the craters on the Moon's near side, it was given its name by

Giovanni Riccioli Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Society of Jesus, SJ (17 April 1598 – 25 June 1671) was an Italian astronomer and a Catholic church, Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. He is known, among other things, for his experiments with pendulums and with f ...

, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized. Earlier lunar cartographers had given the feature different names. Michael van Langren's 1645 map calls it "Ferdinandi III Imp. Rom." after Ferdinand III, the Holy Roman Emperor. And

Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor ...

called it "Didymus Mons".Ewen A. Whitaker, ''Mapping and Naming the Moon'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 204.

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 Albategnius. Weinek Mond-Atlas T035

References

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External links

LTO-77C1 Albategnius
— L&PI

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

Albategnius at The Moon Wiki
* * * Impact craters on the Moon {{Craters on the Moon: A–B