Rankine is a small

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 ...

near the eastern limb 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 lies on the southern floor of the satellite crater Maclaurin B, a 43-kilometer-diameter feature which is located to the southeast of

Maclaurin Maclaurin or MacLaurin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746), Scottish mathematician * Normand MacLaurin (1835–1914), Australian politician and university administrator * Henry Normand MacLaurin ( ...

. To the east of Rankine is the crater

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

, and directly to the south is von Behring. This is an insignificant, bowl-shaped formation with a negligible interior floor. The crater is circular and symmetrical, and the sloping interior walls are nearly featureless (although they have a slightly higher

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 ...

than the surrounding

terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

.) It is otherwise indistinguishable from many other comparably sized craters on the Moon.

References

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