Levi-Civita is a
lunar 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 crater ...
formation that lies on the
far side of the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
. It was named after Italian mathematician
Tullio Levi-Civita
Tullio Levi-Civita, (, ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made signific ...
.
It is located just to the southwest of the large walled plain
Gagarin, and nearly as close to the crater
Pavlov to the south-southwest. To the northwest of Levi-Civita lies the smaller crater
Pirquet.
This is an eroded crater formation with smaller impacts along the rim and within the interior. The southern rim closest to Pavlov is the most eroded section, with multiple small craterlets along the edge and near the inner wall. Along the eastern rim is the satellite crater Levi-Civita F. The interior floor, although relatively level, is pitted by a number of small craters. There is a central ridge near the midpoint of the crater.
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 Levi-Civita.
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{{Commons category
Impact craters on the Moon