Alphonsus (crater)

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Alphonsus is an ancientimpact crater on theMoon that dates from the pre-Nectarian era.^[1] (Older sources state that it isNectarian in age.^[2]) It is located on the lunar highlands on the eastern end ofMare Nubium, west of theImbrian Highlands, and slightly overlaps the craterPtolemaeus to the north. To the southwest is the smallerAlpetragius. The crater name was approved by theIAU in 1935.^[3]

Alphonsus
LRO image
Coordinates	13°23′S2°51′W / 13.39°S 2.85°W /-13.39; -2.85
Diameter	110.54 km
Depth	2.7 km
Colongitude	4° at sunrise
Eponym	Alfonso X

The crater area in a Selenochromatic format Image (Si)

Alphonsus crater appears in the right half of this image taken byRanger 7.NASA photo.

Description

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The surface of Alphonsus is broken and irregular along its boundary with Ptolemaeus. The outer walls are slightly distorted and possess a somewhat hexagonal form.

A low ridge system of deposited ejecta bisects the crater floor, and includes the steep central peak designated Alphonsus Alpha (α). Thispyramid-shaped formation rises to a height of 1.5 km above the interior surface. It is not volcanic in origin, but rather is made ofanorthosite like the lunar highlands.

The floor isfractured^[4] by an elaborate system ofrilles and contains four or five smaller craters surrounded by a symmetric darker halo. These dark-halo craters arecinder cone-shaped and are believed by some to bevolcanic in origin, although others think they were caused by impacts that excavated darker mare material from underneath the lighter lunarregolith.

Exploration

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TheRanger 9 probe impacted in Alphonsus, a short distance to the northeast of the central peak.Harold Urey said of a close-up photograph of Alphonsus:

The floor is covered with many craters of various sizes, some sharp and hence new, others less distinct and partly filled with fragmented material. The walls have fewer craters, and this probably means that slumping of the wall has filled them. Crevasses are evident, and evidence for slumping exists. The larger crater near the top is undoubtedly collisional in origin. Three craters are surrounded by dark halos and were produced by eruptions from the lunar interior. Exceptionally bright, sharp peaks can be seen on certain mountain tops.^[5]

Apollo Landing Site

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The dark-haloed craters along some of the rilles in the crater are thought to be volcanic vents, and during theApollo program Alphonsus was considered as a possible landing site in order to possibly samplexenoliths of the lunar mantle from the vents.^[6] It was considered forApollo 16 but the Descartes area was selected. It was one of the three final possible sites forApollo 17, together withGassendi crater and theTaurus-Littrow valley, but it was considered possibly "contaminated" with younger material from the nearbyImbrium basin.^[7]

Transient lunar phenomena

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Alphonsus is one of the sites noted fortransient lunar phenomena, as glowing red-hued clouds have been reported emanating from the crater. On October 26, 1956, the lunarastronomer Dinsmore Alter noted some blurring of the rilles on the floor of Alphonsus in thephotographs he took inviolet light. The same blurring did not occur in theinfrared photographs he took at the same time. However, few professional astronomers found this evidence ofvolcanic activity on the Moon very convincing.^[8]

One astronomer who was intrigued by Alter's observations wasNikolai A. Kozyrev, from theSoviet Union. In 1958 while Kozyrev was looking for volcanic phenomenon on the moon, he observed the formation of a mist-like cloud within Alphonsus.^[9] The spectrum of the area had been measured at this time, and displayed indications ofcarbon matter, possibly C₂ gas. He believed this to be the result of volcanic or related activity. However no evidence for this phenomenon has been found from lunar missions, and the emission results have never been confirmed.^[10]

Names

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Alphonsus is named after KingAlfonso X of Castile (known as "Alfonso the Wise"), who had an interest in astronomy.^[11] Like many of the craters on the Moon's near side, it was given its name byGiovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized; Riccioli originally named it "Alphonsus Rex" ('King Alfonso'), but the 'Rex' was later dropped.^[12] Earlier lunar cartographers had given the feature different names.Michael van Langren's 1645 map calls it "Ludovici XIV, Reg. Fran.", afterLouis XIV of France,^[13] andJohannes Hevelius called it "Mons Masicytus" aftera range of mountains in Lycia.^[14]

Interior craters

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Oblique view of the five small named craters: C = Chang-Ngo, R = Ravi, M = Monira, J = Jose, S = Soraya. Facing south with sun illuminating from left. North on the photo is on the bottom

Ranger 9 image showingrilles on the floor of the crater

Five tiny craters in the northeastern part of Alphonsus' interior floor have been assigned names by theIAU. These are listed in the table below.

Crater	Coordinates	Diameter	Name source
Chang-Ngo	12°42′S2°06′W / 12.7°S 2.1°W /-12.7; -2.1	3 km	Chinese goddess of the moon
José	12°42′S1°36′W / 12.7°S 1.6°W /-12.7; -1.6	2 km	Spanish masculine name
Monira	12°36′S1°42′W / 12.6°S 1.7°W /-12.6; -1.7	2 km	Arabic feminine name
Ravi	12°30′S1°54′W / 12.5°S 1.9°W /-12.5; -1.9	2.5 km	Indian masculine name
Soraya	12°54′S1°36′W / 12.9°S 1.6°W /-12.9; -1.6	2 km	Persian feminine name

Satellite craters

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Alphonsus crater and its satellite craters taken from Earth in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire'sBayfordbury Observatory with the telescopes Meade LX200 14" and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Alphonsus.

Alphonsus	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	14.8° S	2.3° W	4 km
B	13.2° S	0.2° W	24 km
C	14.4° S	4.8° W	4 km
D	15.1° S	0.8° W	23 km
G	12.3° S	3.3° W	4 km
H	15.6° S	0.5° W	8 km
J	15.1° S	2.5° W	8 km
K	12.5° S	0.1° W	20 km
L	12.0° S	3.7° W	4 km
R	14.4° S	1.9° W	3 km
X	15.0° S	4.4° W	5 km
Y	14.7° S	1.8° W	3 km

References

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^Ambrose, W.A."ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION, AND CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY OF ASYMMETRIC SECONDARY CRATERS ASSOCIATED WITH NEARSIDE LUNAR BASINS"(PDF).Bureau of Economic Geology. University of Texas at Austin, TX. Retrieved25 September 2013.
^The geologic history of the Moon.USGS Professional Paper 1348. ByDon E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 9-4.
^Alphonsus, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
^The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. USGS Professional Paper: 1348. (online)
^EXPLORING SPACE WITH A CAMERA,Section 2, To The Moon and Beyond, NASA Special Publication 168 (SP-168)
^To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration. Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press (1993).ISBN 978-0816510658 Chapter 16.
^To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration. Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press (1993).ISBN 978-0816510658 Chapter 17.
^Dinsmore (1957),69: 158
^Oepik, E.J. (January 1968). "Cratering and the moon's surface".Armagh Observatory. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland.hdl:2060/19690007782.
^Dinsmore (1957),71: 46
^"Alphonsus (crater)".Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
^Ewen A. Whitaker,Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.210.
^Ewen A. Whitaker,Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 198.
^Ewen A. Whitaker,Mapping and Naming the Moon (Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 205.

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