Pitatus is an ancient lunar impact crater located at the southern edge of Mare Nubium. It was named after Italian astronomer Pietro Pitati by the IAU in 1935. Joined to the northwest rim is the crater Hesiodus, and the two are joined by a narrow cleft. To the south lie the attached Wurzelbauer and Gauricus.
Description This formation dates to the Nectarian epoch of the lunar geologic timescale. The complex wall of Pitatus is heavily worn, and has been encroached by lava flows. The rim is lowest to the north, where the lava almost joins the Mare Nubium. Near the middle is a low central peak that is offset to the northwest of center. This peak only rises to a height of 0.5 km.
Pitatus is a floor-fractured crater. The flooded crater floor contains low hills in the east and a system of slender clefts named the Rimae Pitatus. The larger and more spectacular of these rilles follow the edges of the inner walls, especially in the northern and eastern halves. The floor also contains the faint traces of deposited ray markings.
Just to the north of Pitatus in the neighboring mare is the half-buried rim of Pitatus S, covered in the past when the basalts of Mare Nubium filled it.
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 Pitatus.
PitatusLatitudeLongitudeDiameterA31.4° S13.2° W7 kmB32.3° S10.4° W16 kmC28.4° S12.4° W12 kmD30.9° S12.0° W10 kmE28.9° S10.1° W6 kmG29.8° S11.4° W18 kmH30.5° S15.7° W15 kmJ26.5° S13.5° W5 kmK30.4° S8.9° W6 kmL29.1° S8.6° W5 kmM32.1° S11.0° W14 kmN31.2° S10.9° W21 kmP31.0° S10.9° W16 kmQ30.5° S10.8° W12 kmR31.1° S14.6° W7 kmS27.3° S14.0° W12 kmT29.4° S11.2° W5 kmV28.9° S11.7° W5 kmW27.9° S11.2° W13 kmX28.4° S11.6° W19 kmZ28.3° S10.3° W25 km
References See Table 9-4.
Sources
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