Chaffee
Contents
Chaffee
Lat: 39.06°S, Long: 154.63°W, Diam: 51.75 km, Depth: km, Rükl: (farside) | ||
Right: Color-coded Lac 121 image from USGS Digital Atlas
Images
LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Images
Maps
(LAC zone 121A4) USGS Digital Atlas PDF
Description
Chaffee has formed on the inner ring of the Apollo Basin, which itself has formed on the north-eastern sector of the South Pole Aitken Basin -- a 2500 kilometre-wide basin of the pre-Nectarian period (~ 4.6 to 3.92 bn years). Both of the dark regions seen in the Clementine image above are mare lava that has flooded the surrounding region -- the flooded section north of Chaffee occurring within the inner ring of the Apollo Basin, while the southern section has taken place between this inner ring and outer ring, or rim, of the basin itself. Chaffee's rim looks relatively sharp all around, however, while most portions has survived simply because it impacted onto previous craters formed, e,g, Chaffee F in the east, several impacts that followed afterward have altered its appearance -- particularly in its north and north-western sectors (not to mention a small crater in the southern rim area). On closer examination, the central floor of Chaffee has numerous small impact craters all over its region, however, the most obvious ones are seen in the northern half -- showing approximately four of equal size (each, roughly, 5 kilometres in diameter).- JohnMoore2
Wikipedia
Additional Information
- IAU page: Chaffee
Nomenclature
Roger Bruce; American aeronautic engineer, astronaut (1935-1967).
LPOD Articles
Bibliography
Something to investigate...
Although not at all related to astronaut Roger B. Chaffee and the farside crater officially known as Chaffee, it might be interesting to search all sorts of info on Fred Chaffee, former director of Keck Observatory. See also Directorship at Gemini Observatory. Fred Chaffee is also mentioned in the article Moons of Jupiter: Io seems to play an important role (William D. Metz, Science, 1974), see page 448 in Mysterious Universe, a handbook of astronomical anomalies (William R. Corliss, The Sourcebook Project, 1979). - DannyCaes Apr 12, 2015
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