Acosta (crater)
Encyclopedia
Acosta is a small lunar
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 impact crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 located just to the north of the prominent crater Langrenus
Langrenus (crater)
Langrenus is a prominent impact crater located near the eastern lunar limb. The feature is circular in shape, but appears oblong due to foreshortening. It lies on the eastern shore of the Mare Fecunditatis...

, near the east edge of Mare Fecunditatis
Mare Fecunditatis
Mare Fecunditatis is a lunar mare which is 840 km in diameter. The Fecuditatis basin formed in the Pre-Nectarian epoch, while the basin material surrounding the mare is of the...

. To the west are the trio of Atwood
Atwood (crater)
Atwood is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the Mare Fecunditatis, to the northwest of the prominent crater Langrenus. It forms a triple-crater formation with Naonobu attached to the north rim and Bilharz near the west rim. All three were satellite craters of Langrenus before being...

, Naonobu
Naonobu (crater)
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...

, and Bilharz
Bilharz (crater)
Bilharz is a lunar impact crater that lies in the eastern part of the Mare Fecunditatis. It is the largest member of a close triple-crater formation with Atwood to the east and Naonobu to the northeast. To the southeast is the prominent crater Langrenus....

. Acosta is named after the Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 natural historian Cristóbal Acosta.

The crater is circular and bowl-shaped, with a small interior floor at the mid-point of the sloping inner walls. This crater was designated Langrenus C prior to being renamed by the IAU
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

.
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