Gassendi
Location: ·
A fractured-floor crater on the shore of Mare Humorum, criss-crossed by rilles.
Gassendi is a floor-fractured crater. The network of rilles across its floor, Rimae Gassendi, was not made by lava flowing in from Mare Humorum next door but by magma intruding beneath the crater and lifting the floor until it cracked. The floor stands above the level of the adjacent mare, which is the signature of that process rather than of flooding.
It was a serious candidate for Apollo 17, offering mare basalt, highland rim material and volcanic structures within one traverse, before Taurus-Littrow was chosen.
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise and sunset on Gassendi
| Event | Time | Lit |
|---|---|---|
| Computing… | ||
- Sunrise / Sunset: at the feature's centre (IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature).
- Lit: the illuminated fraction of the Moon's disc at that moment.
Named after
Pierre Gassendi, French astronomer and mathematician (1592–1655).
Further info
Official record from the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Gassendi
Wikipedia: Gassendi (crater)