Walther

Walther

(formerly known as Walter)
 

Lat: 33.1°S, Long: 1.0°E, Diam: 128 km, Depth: 4.13 km, Rükl: 65

Colin Evans

Images

LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images (listed under "Walter")

Maps

(LAC zone 112B1) LAC map Geologic map

Description

Description: Elger

(IAU Directions) WALTER.--A great rhomboidal walled-plain, 100 miles in diameter, with a considerably depressed floor, enclosed by a rampart of a very complex kind, crowned by numerous peaks, one of which, on the E., rises 10,000 feet above the interior. If the formation is observed when it is close to the morning terminator, say, when the latter lies from l deg. to 2 deg. W. of the centre of the floor, it is one of the most striking and beautiful objects which the lunar observer can scrutinize. The inner slope of the border which abuts on Regiomontanus, examined at this phase under a high power, is seen to be pitted with an inconceivable number of minute craters; and the summit ridge, and the region towards Werner, scalloped in a very extraordinary way, the engrailing (to use an heraldic term) being due to the presence of a row of big depressions. The floor at this phase is sufficiently illuminated to disclose some of its most noteworthy features. Taking its area to be about 8,000 square miles, at least 1,200 square miles of it is occupied by the central mountain group and its adjuncts, the highest peak rising to a height of nearly 5,000 feet (or nearly 600 feet higher than Ben Nevis), above the interior, and throwing a fine spire of shadow thereon. In the midst of this central boss are two deep craters, one being about 10 miles in diameter, and a number of shallower depressions. In association with the loftiest peak, I noted at 8 h., March 9, 1889, two brilliant little craters, which presumably are not far from the summit. Near the W. corner of the floor there is another large deep crater, and, ranging in a line from the centre to the S.W. wall, three smaller craters.

Description: Wikipedia

Walther

Additional Information

Depth data from Kurt Fisher database
 

• Westfall, 2000: 4.13 km
• Cherrington, 1969: 3.65 km

• Central peak height
  • Sekiguchi, 1972: 2.0 km - fatastronomer fatastronomer
• Sekiguchi, 1972 also includes heights of other features interior to the crater:
  • A broad hill SE of the central peak: 0.8 km
  • A conical peak south of the central peak: 0.6 km
  • Peak north of the central peak: 1 km
  • Peak NW of the previous one: 00.5 km
  • Numerous peaks and hills shorter than 0.5 km - fatastronomer fatastronomer
  • Walther A dark spot, see LPOD Whitewashed! (also noticeable near the upper margin of Clementine's photo-version of LAC 112, page 224 in the Clementine Atlas).- DannyCaes Oct 2, 2012

Nomenclature

• Bernard Walther (1430-1504); German astronomer. (Spelling changed from Walter.) Walther, of Nuremberg, was a friend of Regiomontanus and made innovations in the astronomical instrumentation of his day. His observations were considered the most accurate before Tycho.

• Much confusion exists about the name of this famous crater. In 1979 the IAU approved using the generic given name "Walter" to refer to a very small crater in the nothern hemisphere. The name had been used in that way on NASA's Topophotomap 39B2/S1. Apparently for 20 years no one noticed that there were two "Walter"s on the Moon. In 2000 the Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature solved the problem by recommending that the spelling for the present crater (historically named Walter) be changed to "Walther". Many amateurs and a few professionals have balked at this change, and the name "Walter" continues to be used, by many, to refer to the present crater.
• According to Whitaker (p. 215), the source of the modern name is Valtherus, the name by which this feature was labeled in Riccioli's 1651 annotation of Grimaldi's map. Lichtenberg listed Riccioli's name as Waltherus (#43) in his index to the map of Tobias Mayer, at least as re-published by Johann Schröter. But Schröter himself spelled the name Walter both in his text and in labeling his drawings. Similarly, Beer and Mädler cite Riccioli's name as Walther but, without explanation, use the spelling Walter throughout their text.
  - Jim Mosher

LPOD Articles

Like Getting New Glasses
The Dawn of Walther
Whitewashed! (dark spot Walther A)

Bibliography

• Transactions of the IAU Vol. XVIIB (1979), p. 289. Minor feature Walter approved.
• Transactions of the IAU Vol. XXIVB (2000), p. 146. Spelling of Walter revised to Walther.

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