Kovalevskaya is a prominent

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 ...

that is located on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the Near side of the Moon, near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is ru ...

. It lies to the southwest of the larger walled plain

Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

. To the south of Kovalevskaya are the craters Poynting and Fersman. This crater overlies nearly half of the large Kovalevskaya Q along the southwest rim. The outer rim of Kovalevskaya is generally well-formed and not significantly eroded. The inner walls have formed

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

s and slumped shelves in places. At the midpoint of the interior floor is a pair of central peaks that are split down the middle by a valley running north–south. Some hills run to the east of these peaks, and there are some low hills near the northwest inner wall. The remainder of the floor is relatively level and free from significant impacts. This feature was named after the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n mathematician

Sofia Kovalevskaya Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (russian: link=no, Софья Васильевна Ковалевская), born Korvin-Krukovskaya ( – 10 February 1891), was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differen ...

(1850–1891). The asteroid 1859 Kovalevskaya is also named in her honour.

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 Kovalevskaya.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Impact craters on the Moon