Palmieri 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 ...
that lies to the southwest of the
Mare Humorum
Mare Humorum (Latin ''hūmōrum'', the "Sea of Moisture") is a lunar mare. The impact basin it is located in is 425 kilometers across.
Geology
It was not sampled by the Apollo program, so a precise age has not been determined. However, geologic ...
, in the southwestern quadrant 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 ...
's near side. It lies due south of the crater
Liebig
Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the ...
and east-northeast of the larger
Fourier.
This crater formation has an eroded outer rim that has a gap along the southeastern side and a pair of narrow gaps along the northern rim. The remains of a small, flooded crater form the northern edge of the gap along the southeast. Just to the southwest of Palmieri is the small crater Palmieri E.
The interior floor of Palmieri has been flooded by
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
, leaving a dark interior surface that has a similar
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body ...
to the
lunar mare
The lunar maria (; singular: mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side on the Moon that triggered volcanic activity on the opposite (near) side. They were dubbed , Latin for 'seas' ...
to the northeast. This floor is joined with a long expanse of lava surface to the north of Palmieri that proceeds northwards until it reaches the area between Liebig and
de Gasparis. The floor is marked by a system of
rille
Rille (German for 'groove') is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the surface of the Moon that resemble channels. The Latin term is ''rima'', plural ''rimae''. Typically, a rille can be several kilometers wid ...
s named the Rimae Palmieri that continue to the north and southeast beyond the crater perimeter. These narrow rifts extend for about 150 kilometers.
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 Palmieri.
References
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Impact craters on the Moon