Recht is a small
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 ...
on the
far side
''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealis ...
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 the American mathematician and astronomer
Albert William Recht
Albert William Recht (1898–1962) was an American mathematician and astronomer.
Initially he applied to work as a Spanish instructor at University of Denver. Instead he was hired by the Mathematics Department. He became chair of the mathemat ...
.
Is lies across the eastern rim of the much larger crater
Ostwald Ostwald may refer to:
* Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald, the physico-chemist (awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1909)
# Ostwald's rule of polymorphism: in general, the least stable polymorph crystallizes first
# The Ostwald Process, a synthesis met ...
. To the northeast of Recht is
Meshcherskiy.
This is a bowl-shaped formation with an interior floor that is less than half the diameter of the crater. The inner walls have a 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 ...
, while the interior floor is about the same shade of grey.
Image:Recht crater as10-30-4344.jpg, Oblique view from Apollo 10
Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969) was a human spaceflight, the fourth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, and the second (after Apollo8) to orbit the Moon. NASA described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, and ...
File:Recht crater AS16-M-1313.jpg, Oblique view from Apollo 16
Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...
Image:Ostwald crater AS16-P-5510.jpg, Apollo 16
Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...
panoramic camera image of Ostwald crater, with Recht at lower right
References
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External links
Recht at The Moon Wiki*{{cite web , title=Featured Image: Boulder in Recht Crater , work=Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , publisher=NASA , date=March 8, 2011 , url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20110308-recht.html , access-date=2011-03-18
Impact craters on the Moon