Magelhaens Crater Parents One Satellite on Southwest Mare Fecunditatis

Summary: Magelhaens Crater parents one satellite on southwest Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fecundity), an equator-straddling lava plain on the moon’s near side.

Detail shows row of Magelhaens, Magelhaens A and Gutenberg D in grouping with Goclenius (above) and Colombo A (below); D.P. Elston’s Geologic Map of the Colombo Quadrangle (1972): Dept. of Interior-US Geological Survey/NASA/USAF ACIC, via USGS Publications Warehouse

Magelhaens Crater parents one satellite on southwest Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fecundity), a dark, equator-straddling lava plain occupying the lunar near side’s eastern hemisphere.

Magelhaens Crater’s eroded rim forms a rough circle around the interior floor. British Victorian selenographer Thomas Gwyn Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) described the southern hemisphere crater as presenting “. . . a bright and somewhat irregular though continuous border” (page 130) in his book of lunar observations, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895. A small central mountain rises from the dark, flat floor. The interior’s lava-flooded darkness matches the dark coloration of the nearby lunar mare’s (Latin: “sea”) dark, basaltic plains.

Primary crater Magelhaens is centred at minus 11.98 degrees south latitude, 44.07 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes spread from minus 11.36 degrees south to minus 12.59 degrees south, respectively. The lunar impact crater’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes stretch from 44.7 degrees east to 43.45 degrees east, respectively. Magelhaens has a diameter of 37.2 kilometers.

Magelhaens closely parents its solitary satellite. Magelhaens A is attached to its parent’s southeastern rim.

Elger noted A’s possession of a central hill on its floor. A’s light floor contrasts with its parent’s darkened floor. A craterlet rests on Magelhaens A’s northeastern rim.

The observational team of German banker and amateur astronomer Wilhelm Wolff Beer (Jan. 4, 1797-March 27, 1850) and German astronomer and selenographer Johann Heinrich von Mädler (May 29, 1794-March 14, 1874) likened Magelhaens A to Vendelinus D, “die beide gegen das Mare Foecunditatis abstürzen” (“both of which crash against Mare Foecunditatis”), in their detailed lunar geography, Der Mond (1837, page 370 §411). Lying southeast of Magelhaens A, Vendelinus D edges the southeastern Mare Fecunditatis. D numbers among 15 Vendelinus secondary craters that received official Vendelinus satellite designations in 2006.

Magelhaens A is center at minus 12.73 degrees south latitude, 44.99 degrees east longitude. The satellite’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to minus 12.25 degrees and minus 13.22 degrees south, respectively. A obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 45.49 degrees east and 44.5 degrees east, respectively. With a diameter of 29.35 kilometers, satellite A approximates 80 percent of its parent’s size.

The lunar Magelhaens Crater system honors Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan; ca. 1480-Apil 27, 1521). Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Mädler are credited with the first cartographic designation of Magelhaens and Magelhaens A. Mädler and his patron identified the lunar southern hemisphere’s crater-conjoined satellite system as Magelhaens on quadrant IV of Mappa Selenographica, their complete map of the lunar near side, published in 1834.

Magelhaens and Magelhaens A form a northwest-to-southeast aligned row with the parent’s northwestern neighbor, Gutenberg D, along Mare Fecunditatis. The trio forms a distinctive grouping with Goclenius Crater and Colombo A. Located in Mare Fecunditatis, Goclenius lies to the northeast of the trio. An intruder into its parent’s northwestern rim, Colombo A hunkers near Magelhaens A, to the north-northwest.

NASA astronaut (born Oct. 17, 1933) William Alison Anders captured the grouping in memorable photographs taken as Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) for the Apollo 8 mission. Apollo 8 launched Saturday, Dec. 21, 1968, as the first human lunar-orbiting mission. Commander Frank Frederick Borman II (born March 14, 1928), Command Module Pilot (CMP) James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) and LMP Anders made 10 lunar orbits before their end-of-mission splashdown Friday, Dec. 27, in the North Pacific Ocean.

The takeaways for Magelhaens Crater’s parentage of one satellite on the southwestern Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fecundity) are that Magelhaens A is attached to its parent’s southeastern rim and that, at 29.35 kilometers, the satellite’s diameter equates to almost 80 percent of its parent’s 37.2-kilometer diameter.

Detail of Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Mädler’s lunar map (1834), quadrant IV, shows (lower-center right) row formed by Magelhaens, Magelhaens A and Gutenberg D in grouping with Goclenius (below) and Colombo A (above): Public Domain Mark 1.0, via Digital SLUB (Saxon State and University Library) Dresden

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Detail shows row of Magelhaens, Magelhaens A and Gutenberg D in grouping with Goclenius (above) and Colombo A (below); D.P. Elston’s Geologic Map of the Colombo Quadrangle (1972): Dept. of Interior-US Geological Survey/NASA/USAF ACIC, via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i714

Detail of Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Mädler’s lunar map (1834), quadrant IV, shows (lower-center right) row formed by Magelhaens, Magelhaens A and Gutenberg D in grouping with Goclenius (below) and Colombo A (above): Public Domain Mark 1.0, via Digital SLUB (Saxon State and University Library) Dresden @ https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/?id=5363&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=57760&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=9

For further information:

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Available via Digital SLUB (Saxon State and University Library) Dresden @ https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/?id=5363&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=57760&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=9

Beer, Wilhelm; and Joh. (Johannes) Heinrich Mädler. “Rinnebirgsgruppe des Colombo, Cook under Magelhaens. §.410. §.411.” Der Mond nach seinen kosmischen und individuellen Verhältnissen; oder, Allgemeine vergleichende Selenographie: 370. Mit besondrer Bezichung auf die von den Verfassern berausgegebens Mappa Selenographica. Berlin, Germany: Simon Schropp & Comp., 1837.
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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3578

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/11040

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3673

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