Dune (crater)

Dune
Apollo 15 panoramic camera image
Coordinates26°02′N 3°40′E / 26.04°N 3.66°E / 26.04; 3.66
Diameter380 m[1]
EponymAstronaut-named feature
A telephoto view from the slope of Mons Hadley Delta at station 6A facing north shows Dune in the foreground. The LM Falcon is near the center, and the North Complex is beyond the LM.

Dune is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin visited the south rim of it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 2. The south rim of Dune was designated Geology Station 4 of the mission.

Dune crater, facing north, with Mons Hadley at right. This is part of Pan D-6 in the planimetric map below.

Dune is located about 1.8 km east of Hadley Rille, less than 1 km south of the smaller Earthlight crater, and about 3 km south of the Apollo 15 landing site itself.

The crater was named by the astronauts after the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert,[2] and the name was formally adopted by the IAU in 1973.[1]

Planimetric map of Station 4 from the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report. X indicates sample locations, 5-digit numbers are LRL sample numbers, rectangle is lunar rover (dot indicates TV camera), black spots are large rocks, dashed lines are crater rims or other topographic features, and triangles are panorama stations.
  1. ^ a b Dune, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  2. ^ Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert, by Brian Herbert, 2004, page 244.