Gutenberg (crater)


Gutenberg is a lunar impact crater that lies along the west edge of Mare Fecunditatis, in the eastern part of the visible Moon. It is named after German inventor Johannes Gutenberg. To the southeast are the craters Goclenius, Magelhaens and Colombo. To the west-southwest is the crater Gaudibert, across the Montes Pyrenaeus that run south from Gutenberg.
image of Rimae Gutenberg, facing southeast.
The rim of Gutenberg is worn and eroded, most notably in the east where it is broken by the overlapping crater Gutenberg E. This crater in turn has gaps in its southeast and southwest rims, forming a passage to the lunar mare to the east. There are also clefts and valleys in the southern rim where it joins Gutenberg C. The crater Gutenberg A intrudes into the southwest rim.
The floors of Gutenberg and Gutenberg E have been flooded in the past by lava, forming a relatively flat plain across the bottom. This surface is broken across the northeast by a pair of clefts that form a part of the Rimae Goclenius. These extend northwest from the Goclenius region. The central rise of Gutenberg is a semi-circular range of hills that are the most prominent in the south, and the concave part lies open to the east. The floor is otherwise not marred by any significant craters.

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 Gutenberg.
GutenbergLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
A9.0° S39.9° E15 km
B9.1° S38.3° E15 km
C10.0° S41.1° E45 km
D10.9° S42.8° E20 km
E8.2° S42.4° E28 km
F10.2° S42.6° E8 km
G6.0° S40.0° E32 km
H6.7° S39.0° E5 km
K7.2° S40.8° E6 km