Schröter (lunar crater)

lunar crater data
latitude=2.6
N_or_S=N
longitude=7.0
E_or_W=W
diameter=34.5 km
depth=1.0 km
colong=7
eponym=Johann H. Schröter

Schröter is a lunar crater near the mid-part of the Moon, on the eastern Mare Insularum. It lies to the north of the Sömmering and Mösting craters. To the southeast of the crater rim is a rille named the "Rima Schröter". This cleft begins at a small crater in the mare, then follows a line to the south-southeast.

The rim of Schröter is heavily worn and eroded, with a wide gap in the southern wall and a deep indentation to the southeast. There is no central peak at the crater's mid-point. A widely-spaded row of tiny craters forms a line westward from the north rim of Schröter crater.

Professor W. H. Pickering produced drawings of this crater displaying eruptions of steam that he believed he witnessed. This transient lunar phenomenon was not confirmed by other observers.

To the north of Schröter, beginning with the satellite crater 'Schröter W', is a region of irregular terrain. This area includes an array of linear dark surface markings that appear to criss-cross. In the 1800s, Franz von Gruithuisen is noted for claiming that this area contained a lunar city, based on his observations using a small refracting telescope. This inference was greeted with considerable skepticism by astronomers at the time, and, indeed, subsequent observations with more powerful instruments demonstrated that this was merely a natural feature.

About 100 km to the west-northwest of Schröter crater is the landing site of Surveyor 2.

atellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Schröter crater.

References