| Crater characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43.9° S, 119.9° E |
| Diameter | 104 km |
| Depth | Unknown |
| Colongitude | 242° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Johannes Van der Waals |
Van Der Waals is a lunar crater on the far side of the Moon. It is a heavily eroded feature with an irregular outer rim. The edge is lowest along the southern side where it is little more than a circular crest along the ground. It is more developed along the northern side, but the rim is notched and rugged. The satellite crater 'Van Der Waals W' is attached to the exterior of the northeast, and 'Van Der Waals H' intrudes into the rim along the southeast. The interior floor is relatively even and featureless, with only a few tiny craterlets to mark the surface. Nearby craters of note include Clark to the north, Carver to the east, and Pikel'ner to the southeast. About two crater diameters to the west-southwest is Lebedev crater.
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 Van der Waals crater.
| Van der Waals |
Latitude | Longitude | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | 41.0° S | 121.0° E | 17 km |
| C | 40.5° S | 123.6° E | 24 km |
| H | 44.3° S | 121.7° E | 31 km |
| K | 45.8° S | 122.0° E | 55 km |
| W | 41.3° S | 117.1° E | 46 km |
References
- Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A., (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
- Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- Bussey, B.; Spudis, P., (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81528-2.
- Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 0-936389-27-3.
- McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). Lunar Nomenclature. Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
- Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by The Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews 12: 136.
- Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-304-35469-4.
- Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon observer's handbook. Cambridge University Press.
- Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-913135-17-8.
- 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.
