Taruntius (crater)

Description

The surface about Taruntius has an unusual number of ghost craters and lava-flooded features, especially to the southwest in the Mare Fecunditatis.

The outer rim of Taruntius is shallow, but forms a veined, complex rampart in the nearby mare, especially to the north and southwest. The rim is broken in the northwest by the small crater Cameron. The inner rim face lacks terraces, but in the interior is an unusual concentric inner rim that is heavily worn and irregular. This is a floor-fractured crater, possibly created by an uplift of mare material from beneath the interior. There is a low central peak complex in the middle of the relatively flat interior floor. There are also some slender rilles that are concentric to the rim.

The crater has a pair of faint dark patches. One patch is located just south of the central peak and the other falls on the sides of the northern rim near Cameron. These were likely created by deposits of volcanic ash from small vents. Taruntius has a ray system with a radius of over 300 kilometers. Due to these rays, Taruntius has been mapped as part of the Copernican System, but this dating has been disputed.

Satellite craters

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

The following craters have been renamed by the IAU.

• Taruntius A — See Asada crater.
• Taruntius C — See Cameron crater.
• Taruntius D — See Watts crater.
• Taruntius E — See Zähringer crater.
• Taruntius G — See Anville crater.
• Taruntius M — See Lawrence crater.
• Taruntius N — See Smithson crater.

File:Taruntius F crater AS15-M-2127.jpg|Taruntius F from Apollo 15 File:Taruntius F crater as10-34-5145.jpg|Taruntius F from Apollo 10 File:Taruntius F crater 1041 med.jpg|Taruntius F from Lunar Orbiter 1 File:Taruntius H crater AS15-M-2120.jpg|Taruntius H from Apollo 15 File:Taruntius H crater as10-34-5136.jpg|Taruntius H from Apollo 10 File:Taruntius H crater AS10-29-4254HR.jpg|Taruntius H from Apollo 10 File:AS11-42-6301.jpg|Taruntius O from Apollo 11 File:Taruntius K and P craters 5038 med.jpg|Taruntius K (right) and P (left) from Lunar Orbiter 5

References

• {{cite book | author-link2 = Ewen Whitaker
• {{cite book | author-link1 = Ben Bussey | author-link2 = Paul Spudis
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• {{cite web | access-date = 2007-10-24 | archive-date = 2012-02-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208141804/http://host.planet4589.org/astro/lunar/ | url-status = dead
• {{cite book | author-link = Patrick Moore
• {{cite book
• {{cite book | author-link = Antonín Rükl
• {{cite book | author-link = Thomas William Webb
• {{cite book | author-link = Ewen Whitaker
• {{cite book

References

1. {{gpn. 5878
2. WBD. "Firmanus, Tarutius".
3. The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, [[Donald Wilhelms. Wilhelms, Don E.]]; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. [[United States Geological Survey. USGS]] Professional Paper: 1348. Plate 11: Copernican System ([https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1348 online])
4. (2016). "The steepest slopes on the Moon from Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Data: Spatial Distribution and Correlation with Geologic Features". Icarus.