Erlanger (crater)
Encyclopedia
Erlanger is a very deep lunar
impact crater
that lies close to the Northern pole. Due to its position near the north pole of the moon (and given the fact that the moon's axis is only tilted about 1.5 degrees), sunlight only rarely falls on the bottom, and it is hoped that ice from comet impacts may have accumulated here .
The crater was named by the International Astronometrical Union
on January 22nd 2009, after the American physiologist and 1944 Nobel Prize
winner Joseph Erlanger
.
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...
that lies close to the Northern pole. Due to its position near the north pole of the moon (and given the fact that the moon's axis is only tilted about 1.5 degrees), sunlight only rarely falls on the bottom, and it is hoped that ice from comet impacts may have accumulated here .
The crater was named by the International Astronometrical Union
IAU
IAU may refer to:*International Astronomical Union*International American University*International American University College of Medicine*International Association of Universities*International Association of Ultrarunners...
on January 22nd 2009, after the American physiologist and 1944 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner Joseph Erlanger
Joseph Erlanger
Joseph Erlanger was an American physiologist.Erlanger was born on January 5, 1874, at San Francisco, California. He completed his B.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and completed his M.D. in 1899 from the Johns Hopkins University...
.