Hercules

Hercules

Lat: 46.7°N, Long: 39.1°E, Diam: 69 km, Depth: 2.32 km, Rükl: 14, Eratosthenian

George Tarsoudis Hercules is at the bottom, Atlas is in the middle and Endymion is at the top.

Images

LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Images

Maps

(LAC zone 27A1) LAC map Geologic map

Description

Hercules is the smaller of the Greek hero two-some in this part of the Moon, and it has a flat floor.

Description: Elger

(IAU Directions) HERCULES.--The western companion of Atlas, a fine ring-plain, about 46 miles in diameter, with a complex border, rising some 11,000 feet above a depressed floor. There are few formations of its class and size which display so much detail in the shape of terraces, apparent landslips, and variation in brightness. In the interior, S.W. of the centre, is a very conspicuous crater, which is visible as a bright spot when the formation itself is hardly traceable, two large craterlets slightly N. of the centre, and several faint little spots on the west of them. The latter, detected some years ago by Herr Hackel of Stuttgart, are arranged in the form of a horse-shoe. There are two small contiguous craters on the S.W. wall, one of which, a difficult object, was recently detected by Mr. W.H. Maw, F.R.A.S. The well-known wedge-shaped protuberance on the S. wall is due to a large irregular depression. On the bright inner slope of the N. wall are manifest indications of a landslip.

Description: Wikipedia

Hercules

Additional Information

• Depth data from Kurt Fisher database
  • Westfall, 2000: 2.32 km
  • Viscardy, 1985: 3.2 km
  • Cherrington, 1969: 3.81 km
  • Measurements using both LTVT and the ILIADS’s software give an average depth of 3.2 km in Carmelo Mel Zannelli’s image taken from the LPOD Photo Gallery. - JohnMoore2
  • (click for larger image)
• Depth is from the less accurate LAC 27.
• Central peak composition: GNTA1 (Tompkins & Pieters, 1999)
• Satellite craters Hercules D, E and G are on the ALPO list of bright ray craters.
• Satellite craters Hercules C, D and G are on the ALPO list of banded craters
• TSI = 35, CPI = 25, FI = 5; MI =65 Smith and Sanchez, 1973
• On 19th February 1885 Gray observed a small crater near Hercules glow dull red 'with vivid contrast'. Source: V.A.Firsoff's The Old Moon and the New (1969), page 185.- DannyCaes May 19, 2012

Nomenclature

• The IAU name is the Latin spelling for Greek mythological hero Heracles.
• The name was given by Riccioli and became Catalog Entry 452 in the Collated List and in Named Lunar Formations.
• Felix Chemla Lamèch is reported to have proposed Kephalinos as a replacement name for Hercules F, but the IAU did not accept his proposal. Research: Ewen A. Whitaker and Danny Caes (August 2003, mail correspondence).
• The name Hercules is absent in the book Who's Who On the Moon by Elijah E. Cocks and Josiah C. Cocks (Tudor Publishers, 1995), but not because it is a mythological figure: he names Icarus and Daedalus (also mythological figures) are included in the book. Error detected by Danny Caes.
• The names Hercules and Cepheus are the only two in the gazetteer of official lunar nomenclature which are also the names of constellations in the celestial northern hemisphere.- DannyCaes Apr 25, 2010

LPOD Articles

Hiding a Mouse. A Tale of Two Craters Lunar Super-Heroes A Wonderful Corner Ejecta Tales

Bibliography

• Hercules F (Lamech's "Kephalinos"): Mapping and Naming the Moon; a history of lunar cartography and nomenclature (Ewen A. Whitaker).

---