Bel'kovich (crater)

lunar crater data


caption=Mare Humboldtianum. To the right above center is the crater Bel'kovich.
latitude=61.1
N_or_S=N
longitude=90.2
E_or_W=E
diameter=214 km
depth="Unknown"
colong=277
eponym=Igor V. Bel'kovich

Bel'kovich is a large lunar crater of the form termed a walled plain. The formation has been heavily eroded by a history of subsequent impacts, leaving it reshaped, worn, and the features softened and rounded. Bel'kovich is located along the northeastern limb of the Moon, and so its visibility is subject to libration effects. From the Earth this crater is viewed from the side, making it difficult to view it in detail.

Bel'kovich intrudes into the northeast portion of the Mare Humboldtianum, and the mare area outside the rim consists of hilly, irregular surface that covers much of the northern half of the lunar mare. The younger crater Hayn intrudes into the northwest rim of Bel'kovich, and the satellite crater Bel'kovich K lies across the northeast rim. In the south, the lava-flooded crater Bel'kovich A cuts across the southern rim, and its western rim is overlain in turn by the small, bowl-shaped Bel'kovich B.

Apart from the intersecting crater formations, the outer rim of Bel'kovich has been degraded and reshaped until it now consists of a roughly circular range of mountains and hills. The northern and northeastern parts of the crater floor and rim is an irregular surface of many small hillocks. The southeast quadrant of the interior is nearly as irregular, and contains a number os small craterlets. Only in the western part of the floor is the surface relatively flat. From here a slender rille extends to the east-southeast before bending to the southeast.

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 Bel'kovich.

References