Naonobu (crater)

Naonobu
Apollo 15 image
Coordinates4°36′S 57°48′E / 4.6°S 57.8°E / -4.6; 57.8
Diameter34 km
DepthUnknown
Colongitude302° at sunrise
EponymNaonobu Ajima
Oblique view of Bilharz (top), Atwood (lower left), and Naonobu (lower right), from Apollo 11

Naonobu is a small lunar impact crater named after Japanese mathematician Ajima Naonobu. It is located on the eastern Mare Fecunditatis, to the northwest of the prominent crater Langrenus, and it forms a triple-crater formation with the adjacent Atwood to the south and Bilharz just to the southwest. Naonobu and Atwood are separated by only a few kilometres.

The interior of this crater has been flooded with basaltic lava, leaving a relatively flat interior and a reduced outer rim. There is no central peak, but a small crater lies just to the southwest of the midpoint. A similar crater lies across the western interior of the rim.

This crater was previously designated Langrenus B before being renamed by the IAU in 1976.[1]

  1. ^ Naonobu Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)