Lents (crater)

Coordinates: 2°48′N 102°06′W / 2.8°N 102.1°W / 2.8; -102.1
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Lents
LRO WAC image with Lents below left of center and Lents C above right of center
Coordinates2°48′N 102°06′W / 2.8°N 102.1°W / 2.8; -102.1
Diameter21 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude102° at sunrise
EponymHeinrich F. E. Lenz
Oblique Lunar Orbiter 5 image with Lents at center and Lents C below right, facing west

Lents is a small lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located within the north-northwestern section of the immense skirt of ejecta that surrounds the Mare Orientale impact basin. To the south is the Montes Cordillera mountain ring, and to the north-northeast is the damaged crater Elvey.

This is a bowl-shaped formation with an interior floor that is about half the diameter of the crater. Attached to the northeastern exterior of Lents is the satellite crater Lents C, a feature of roughly the same dimension. Slightly more than a crater diameter to the east of Lents C is Pierazzo, which produced a broad, wispy ray system that extends for more than 100 km in all directions. The ray material from this impact lies across both Lents C and Lents, reaching as far north as Elvey.

On some maps, Lents is called Lenz.

Satellite craters[edit]

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Lents.

Lents Latitude Longitude Diameter
C 3.3° N 101.6° W 23 km
J 3.7° S 97.3° W 16 km
K 2.3° S 98.8° W 21 km

References[edit]

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