Townley 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 crater ...

that is located in the eastern part 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 American astronomer

Sidney Dean Townley Sidney Dean Townley (April 10, 1867 – March 18, 1946) was an American astronomer and geodeticist. He was a professor at Stanford University from 1911 until 1932. Among many other posts, Townley served as an instructor of astronomy at the Uni ...

. It lies to the northwest of

Mare Spumans Mare Spumans (Latin ''spūmāns'', the "foaming sea") is a lunar mare located just south of Mare Undarum on the lunar near side. It is one of the many elevated lakes contained in the Crisium basin, surrounding Mare Crisium. The surrounding basi ...

and southeast of the crater Apollonius. This crater was previously designated Apollonius G. This crater is generally circular, with inner wall that slopes down to a relatively dark floor that is generally flat. The

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of 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 that refl ...

of this floor is similar 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 southeast. The rim is not significantly worn or eroded, although there is a crater-like notch along the southeast rim. A small crater is attached to the northern rim, and several tiny craters lie near the southwest side.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Commonscat, position=left Impact craters on the Moon