Petavius is a large Lunar craters, lunar impact crater located to the southeast of the Mare Fecunditatis, near the southeastern lunar limb. Attached to the northwest rim is the smaller crater Wrottesley (crater), Wrottesley. To the southeast are Palitzsch (crater), Palitzsch, Vallis Palitzsch, and Hase (crater), Hase. Farther to the north is the large crater Vendelinus (crater), Vendelinus. Petavius appears oblong when viewed from the Earth due to foreshortening. Petavius is Lunar geologic timescale, Imbrian in age.
The outer wall of Petavius is unusually wide in proportion to the diameter, and displays a double rim along the south and west sides. The height of the rim varies by as much as 50% from the lowest point, and a number of ridges radiate outwards from the rim. The convex crater floor has been resurfaced by lava flow, and displays a rille system named the Rimae Petavius. The large central mountains are a prominent formation with multiple peaks, climbing 1.7 kilometers above the floor. A deep fracture runs from the peaks toward the southwest rim of the crater.
Thomas William Webb, Rev. T. W. Webb described Petavius as,
: "one of the finest spots in the Moon: its grand double rampart, on east side nearly . High, its terraces, and convex interior with central hill and cleft, compose a magnificent landscape in the lunar morning or evening, entirely vanishing beneath a Sun risen but halfway to the meridian."
Petavius is one of the largest craters of Lower (Early) Imbrian age.
The most favorable time for viewing this feature through a telescope is when the Moon is only three days old. By the fourth day the crater is nearly devoid of shadow.
70-cm radar images of this crater and its surroundings show that the region of the surface beyond the wide outer wikt:rampart, rampart of Petavius has a dark halo, characteristic of a smooth surface free of boulders. It is thought that this may have been created by radial outbursts during the original impact that swept the area clean.
Petavius B to the north-northwest of Petavius has a small ray system that lies across the surface of Mare Fecunditatis. Due to these rays, Petavius B is mapped as part of the Copernican period, Copernican System.
[The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Donald Wilhelms, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. United States Geological Survey, USGS Professional Paper: 1348. Plate 11: Copernican System]
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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 Petavius.
Views
File:Petavius crater 4184 h2.jpg, Oblique view from Lunar Orbiter 4
File:Petavius crater AS17-P-3152.jpg, Oblique view from Apollo 17
File:Moon-Petavius-crater-LB16-diaphragmed-90mm-Registax.jpg, Petavius crater at the Lunar terminator, terminator, from Earth
File:Petavius-big-orig.jpg, Petavius crater viewed from Earth
File:Petavius B crater AS12-50-7458.jpg, Petavius B crater, from Apollo 12
References
* Rev. T. W. Webb, ''Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes'', rev. 6, Dover, 1962, .
* Ghent and others, ''Properties of Lunar Crater Ejecta from New 70 cm Radar Observations'', 2004, Lunar & Planetary Science 35; #1879.
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External links
* Lunar Orbiter 5 acquired high-resolution images of Petavius
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* {{cite web
, last = Wood
, first = Chuck
, date = November 20, 2007
, title = Limb Gift
, publisher = Lunar Photo of the Day
, url = http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071120
, access-date = 2007-11-20
, url-status = dead
, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071121054330/http://www.lpod.org/?m=20071120
, archive-date = November 21, 2007
Impact craters on the Moon