Boltzmann

Lat: 74.9°S, Long: 90.7°W, Diam: 76 km, Depth: km, Rükl: (farside)

Named for Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (1844-1906), an Austrian physicist.
This name was assigned in the Rectified Lunar Atlas (1963), based on Earth-based photos of the libration zones, and approved by the IAU in 1964, to which it was described as a 70 km diameter crater at 75.5°S, 96.0°W.
In preparing its initial long list of farside names, the IAU Working Group for Lunar Nomenclature was initially unable to find evidence in space-based overhead views of a significant crater at that location, and announced at the August 1970 meeting its plan of deleting the 1964 approval and reassigning the name to the larger nearby crater now known as Lippmann.
Subsequent to the 1970 meeting, Whitaker produced space-based images of the crater he had intended to name. The name was reapproved in Menzel, 1971 as representing the crater at 75°S, 90°W.
The version of ACIC map LMP-3 from October, 1970 (prepared before the final IAU farside list had been published) labels Boltzmann at the proposed changed location.

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This page has been edited 1 times. The last modification was made by - tychocrater tychocrater on Jun 13, 2009 3:24 pm - afx3u2