Van't Hoff (crater)

lunar crater data
latitude=62.1
N_or_S=N
longitude=131.8
E_or_W=W
diameter=92 km
depth="Unknown"
colong=134
eponym=Jacobus H. van 't Hoff

Van't Hoff is a lunar crater that is located to the northeast of the Birkhoff walled plain, on the far side of the Moon. To the northwest is Stebbins crater, and to the east lies the smaller Dyson crater.

This crater lies at high northern latitudes of the lunar surface, almost two-thirds the way from the equator to the pole. The outer rim if Van't Hoff is heavily eroded and the crater has become distorted in shape from subsequent impacts. The rim edge is ill-defined in the western half where the inner wall is unusually wide. This edge may have become overlaid by "ejecta" from other impacts to the west.

Along the eastern face the crater has apparently merged with one or two other impacts, producing an outward double-bulge. There are several smaller impacts along the eastern rim, and a gouge in the surface forms a trough leading away to the northeast for nearly a crater diameter. Much of the interior floor of Van't Hoff is relatively level, and is marked by some small craterlets. The most prominent of these is a small, cup-shaped crater in the southern half.

atellite 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't Hoff crater.

References