Licetus (crater)


Licetus is a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon, in the rugged southern highland region. It lies to the south of the walled plain Stöfler, and is attached to the northern rim of the sub-divided crater Heraclitus. Just to the southeast is Cuvier. Licetus is 75 kilometers in diameter and 3.8 kilometers deep. It is from the Pre-Nectarian period, 4.55 to 3.92 billion years ago.
This is a worn crater formation with several craterlets lying across the rim and along the inner wall. The most notable of these is a small crater lying across the inner southeast rim, with another across the northwest rim. The rim is also especially worn along the northern end, with a cluster of tiny craterlets along the rim lip and the inner wall. The interior floor is relatively flat, with some minor ridges and slips in the southern half. There are small craterlets along the west-southwest and eastern edges of the floor.
The crater is named after Fortunio Liceti, a 17th-century Italian philosopher and physicist.

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 Licetus.
LicetusLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
A47.8° S3.2° E8 km
B46.5° S4.9° E13 km
C47.4° S5.6° E10 km
D48.0° S4.5° E6 km
E44.7° S1.9° E19 km
F46.0° S1.0° E32 km
G43.8° S1.9° E11 km
H45.9° S3.1° E10 km
J44.2° S3.2° E12 km
K45.5° S0.0° E6 km
L47.2° S1.1° E5 km
M46.8° S1.9° E9 km
N45.5° S2.2° E9 km
P47.6° S2.4° E21 km
Q47.2° S9.7° E8 km
R45.1° S3.9° E7 km
S45.2° S8.2° E11 km
T45.8° S6.7° E7 km
U46.9° S7.4° E7 km
W45.9° S8.5° E7 km