Van den Bos 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 that is joined to the south-southwestern outer rim of the slightly larger crater

Tamm Tamm is a ''Town#Germany, Stadt'' (town) in the Ludwigsburg (district), district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 6 km northwest of Ludwigsburg, 4 km south of Bietigheim-Bissingen, and approx. 17 km north ...

. About one crater diameter to the west is Vil'ev. Farther away to the east is the prominent Chaplygin, and to the south-southwest lies Marconi. van den Bos is located 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 ...

and cannot be viewed directly from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. This is a shallow crater formation with some wear along its rim. It has nearly merged with the neighboring Tamm, and the length of the common rim is almost two-thirds the diameter of van den Bos. The interior floor has a series of rilles across the surface. These are usually formed by cooling sheets of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

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 ...

, although it has been hypothesized that the fissured, viscous-appearing material within both Tamm and van den Bos was emplaced as impact melt from the Mendeleev basin 225 km to the northwest.The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. USGS Professional Paper: 1348.
online
, Figure 6.13 H

References

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External links

Digital Lunar Orbiter Photo Number I-115-H2
Impact craters on the Moon