Palus Putredinis
Encyclopedia
Palus Putredinus is an area of the 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...

 surface that stretches from the crater Archimedes
Archimedes (crater)
Archimedes is a large lunar impact crater on the eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium. To the south of the crater extends the Montes Archimedes mountainous region. On the southeastern rim is the Palus Putredinis flooded plain, containing a system of rilles named the Rimae Archimedes that extend over...

 southeast toward the rugged Montes Apenninus
Montes Apenninus
Montes Apenninus are a rugged mountain range on the northern part of the Moon's near side. They are named after the Apennine Mountains in Italy....

 range located on the southeastern edge of Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium
Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...

. This region is a nearly level, lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

-flooded plain bounded by the crater Autolycus
Autolycus (crater)
Autolycus is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southeast part of Mare Imbrium. West of the formation is Archimedes, a formation more than double the size of Autolycus...

 to the north and the foothills of the Montes Archimedes
Montes Archimedes
Montes Archimedes is a mountain range on the Moon. It is named after the crater Archimedes that lies to the north, which in turn has an eponym of the Greek mathematician Archimedes....

 to the west. The selenographic coordinates are 26.5° N, 0.4° E, and it lies within a diameter of 161 km.

In the southern part of this area is a rille
Rille
Rille is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the lunar surface that resemble channels. Typically a rille can be up to several kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers in length...

 system designated Rimae Archimedes. To the south is a prominent linear rille named Rima Bradley, and to the east is the Rima Hadley, which served as the landing site for Apollo 15
Apollo 15
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...

, and the Rimae Fresnel. Just to the northwest of the Palus Putredinus mid-point is the nearly submerged crater Spurr
Spurr (crater)
Spurr is the lava-flooded remains of a lunar impact crater. It is located in the midst of the Palus Putredinis plain, to the southeast of the crater Archimedes...

. Luna 2
Luna 2
Luna 2 was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon...

crashed in this area.
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