Dawes is a
lunar
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
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 wide straight between
Mare Serenitatis
Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is .
Geology
Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian epo ...
and
Mare Tranquilitatis. To its southwest lies the larger crater
Plinius, and to its northeast sits the
Mons Argaeus
Mons Argaeus is a mountainous massif on the Moon that extends for a length of 65 km towards the southeast. It is located at coordinates , wedging between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis on their eastern border. The summit is appro ...
mountain rise. It is named after British astronomer
William Rutter Dawes
William Rutter Dawes (19 March 1799 – 15 February 1868) was an English astronomer.
Biography
Dawes was born at Christ's Hospital then in the City of London (it moved to Horsham, West Sussex in 1902), the son of William Dawes, also an astro ...
.
Description
Dawes is circular with a sharp rim that has a slightly flattened oval perimeter. It has a slight central rise, and a somewhat darker floor that is nearly covered in overlapping swirl-like deposits. Much of the deposits are slumped or fall-back material. The inner walls are steep and free from impact erosion. Northeast of Dawes is a rille known as Rima Dawes.
Detailed examination of this crater has located what appear to be alcoves and channels along the inner rim. It is hypothesized that
micrometeorite
A micrometeorite is a micrometeoroid that has survived entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Usually found on Earth's surface, micrometeorites differ from meteorites in that they are smaller in size, more abundant, and different in composition. T ...
impacts along the rim trigger dry landslides, which produce a
gully
A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...
-like appearance. A similar phenomenon may be responsible for
gully-like features along the inner rim of some
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...
craters.
References
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External links
High resolution view from Apollo 15(Figure 144 o
(NASA SP-362), 1978)
Lunar Orbiter 5 image 070 L&PI
LTO-42C3 Dawes— 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 ...
LROC page: Dawes
Related article
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{{Craters on the Moon: C-F
Impact craters on the Moon