HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Von Kármán is a large lunar
impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...
that is located in the southern hemisphere on the
far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. C ...
. The crater is about in diameter and lies within an immense impact crater known as the South Pole–Aitken basin of roughly in diameter and deep. Von Kármán is the site of the first soft-landing on the lunar far side by the Chinese
Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of the CNSA. It made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon, the first spacecraft to do so, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, , w ...
spacecraft on 3 January 2019.


Name

The crater is named after Hungarian-American aeronautical engineer
Theodore von Kármán Theodore von Kármán ( , May 11, 1881May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing ...
.


Overview

The northern third of this formation is overlain by the rim and outer rampart of the walled plain
Leibnitz Leibnitz (; ) is a city in the Austrian States of Austria, state of Styria and on 1 Jan. 2023 had a population of 13,014. It is located to the south of the city of Graz, between the Mur (river), Mur and Sulm (Austria), Sulm rivers. The town is ...
, forming a deep indentation in the formation. The remainder of the outer wall is roughly circular in shape, although it is irregular and heavily worn by subsequent impacts. The interior of Von Kármán has been subjected to flooding by
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 Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...
flows after the original crater formed, leaving the southern portion of the floor nearly flat. This surface has a lower
albedo Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is Diffuse reflection, diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects ...
than the surrounding terrain, and is nearly as dark as the interior of Leibnitz. There is a central peak at the location where the midpoint of the original Von Kármán was formed, which joins with the rougher surface in the northern part of the crater. In addition to Leibnitz to the north, the crater
Oresme Nicole Oresme (; ; 1 January 1325 – 11 July 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology, ...
is located to the west-northwest, and Finsen lies to the northeast on the edge of Leibnitz's rim. Nearly attached to the southeast rim is the unusual figure-eight-shaped formation Von Kármán L. Directly to the east of this is the crater
Alder Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
. Prior to formal naming in 1970 by the
IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
, the crater was known as ''Crater 434''.


Exploration and cotton seeds sprouting

On 3 January 2019, the Chinese spacecraft
Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of the CNSA. It made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon, the first spacecraft to do so, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, , w ...
landed inside the crater Von Kármán, becoming the first spacecraft to soft-land on the
far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. C ...
. The site holds symbolic meaning and scientific value as
Theodore von Kármán Theodore von Kármán ( , May 11, 1881May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing ...
(1881–1963) was the PhD advisor of
Qian Xuesen Qian Xuesen ( zh, s=钱学森; December 11, 1911October 31, 2009; also spelled as Tsien Hsue-shen) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and cyberneticist who made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics and established engineering ...
, the founder of the Chinese space program.
Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of the CNSA. It made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon, the first spacecraft to do so, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, , w ...
took cotton seeds on its mission, and on 15 January 2019, China announced that cotton seeds had sprouted, the first "truly otherworldly plant in history". On 4 February 2019 the
IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
approved the name of the landing site as ''Statio Tianhe''. The central peak of Von Kármán, to the northwest of the landing site, was named ''Mons Tai''. Three small craters were also named: Hegu is south of the landing site, Zhinyu is to the west, and
Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
Tianjin
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU), Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) is to the northeast.


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 Von Kármán.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Von Karman Impact craters on the Moon