Racah (crater)

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Crater characteristics
Coordinates	13.8° S, 179.8° W
Diameter	63 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	180° at sunrise
Eponym	Giulio Racah

Racah is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies almost due south of the larger Daedalus crater, and across the longitude that is diametrically opposed to the Earth-zenith: that is, it is nearly opposite the point on the lunar surface that is the most directly below the Earth. To the west-southwest of Racah is Aitken crater, and to the southeast lies De Vries crater.

The rim of this crater is eroded and is not quite circular, having a prominent outward bulge along the west-northwest side. The edge is somewhat damaged along the southern rim, but no significant craters lie along the side. The interior floor is uneven in places with some small impacts.

This feature is named after the Israeli physicist, Giulio Racah.

[edit] Satellite 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 Racah crater.

Racah	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
B	10.5° S	178.4° W	27 km
J	16.5° S	177.4° W	37 km
K	16.8° S	178.6° W	52 km
N	17.0° S	179.0° E	35 km
T	13.8° S	177.5° E	21 km
U	13.2° S	177.2° E	25 km
W	12.5° S	178.9° E	39 km
X	10.2° S	179.0° E	14 km

[edit] References

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• Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
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• Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, 6th revision, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20917-2. 
• Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62248-4. 
• Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 1852331933.