Steinheil is a

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 ...

that is located in the rugged highlands in the southeastern 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 German astronomer and physicist

Carl August von Steinheil Carl August von Steinheil (12 October 1801 – 14 September 1870) was a German physicist, inventor, engineer and astronomer. Biography Steinheil was born in Ribeauvillé, Alsace. He studied law in Erlangen since 1821. He then studied astronomy i ...

. It forms a prominent crater pair with the similar-sized

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

, which it partly overlies to the southeast. To the northwest is the large walled plain Janssen. Due to the location of this crater, it appears foreshortened when viewed 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 ...

. It is from the

Nectarian The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 3920 million years ago to 3850 million years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact events. Ejecta from Nectaris for ...

period, 3.92 to 3.85 billion years ago.''Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition''. CD-ROM. Meade, April 2006. This is a relatively circular crater that has undergone some light erosion from subsequent impacts. The inner wall is wider along the southwestern rim than elsewhere, and there is a slight outward bulge in the western rim. There are a few tiny craterlets along the rim and inner wall, the most notable being a crater at the base of the inner northeast rim. The interior floor is level, with no central peak and only a few minor craterlets.

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 Steinheil.

References

{{Commons category Impact craters on the Moon Nectarian