Cayley (crater)
Cayley is a small lunar impact crater that is located in a lava-flooded region to the west of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was named after the 19th-century English mathematician Arthur Cayley.[1] It lies to the northwest of the smaller crater De Morgan and the larger D'Arrest. West and slightly north of Cayley is Whewell, a crater of about the same dimensions. To the north is a linear rille designated Rima Ariadaeus, which follows a course to the east-southeast.
 Lunar Orbiter 4 image | |
| Coordinates | 4.0°N 15.1°E |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 14 km |
| Depth | 3.1 km |
| Colongitude | 345° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Arthur Cayley |
Description
This is a circular, bowl-shaped formation with a small interior floor at the midpoint. (Small being relative to the overall diameter, as it occupies about one-fourth the total cross-section.) The sloping interior walls are relatively light in hue, having a higher albedo as the surrounding terrain. However it is not nearly as bright as the slightly larger crater Dionysius to the east-southeast, and lacks a ray system.
The smooth, rolling plains to the east of this crater are called the Cayley Formation. It is somewhat similar to the lunar maria, but has a slightly higher albedo and is overlapped at the eastern edge by the Mare Tranquillitatis. Lunar scientists suspect that this plain may have resulted from deposits of ejecta from the formation of large impact basins such as Mare Imbrium or Mare Orientale.[2] (The most likely source is the Mare Imbrium impact basin to the northwest.)
Cayley is a crater of Eratosthenian age.[3]
References
- "Cayley (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- Lunar Light Plains Deposits (Cayley Formation)--A Reinterpretation of Origin. E. C. T. Chao, L. A. Soderblom, J. M. Boyce, Don E. Wilhelms, and Carroll Ann Hodges. Abstracts of papers submitted to the Fourth Lunar Science Conference, March 5-8, 1973.
- The geologic history of the Moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348. By Don E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 12.2.
- Harland, D. M. (1999). Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions. Springer. ISBN 1-85233-099-6.
- Masursky, H.; Colton, G. W.; Farouk, E.-B. (1978). "Apollo Over the Moon: A View from Orbit (NASA SP-362)". NASA. Retrieved 2006-08-10. — see Fig. 46
- Wood, Charles A. (March 2006). "Looking Between Craters". Sky & Telescope. 111 (3): 58. Bibcode:2006S&T...111c..58W.
- Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
- Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81528-4.
- Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 978-0-936389-27-1.
- McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 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 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763. S2CID 122125855.
- Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-304-35469-6.
- Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33500-3.
- Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 978-0-913135-17-4.
- Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-20917-3.
- Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62248-6.
- Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-193-1.
External links
- Cayley at The Moon Wiki (now defunct)
- Wood, Chuck (December 12, 2006). "How Deep is That Hole". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. - includes a couple of craters such as Cayley
- Wood, Chuck (2007-08-15). "A Formation of Surprise". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
