Mutus (crater)


Mutus is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged southern part of the Moon. It lies to the north-northeast of the larger crater Manzinus, and some distance to the south of Hommel. It is 78 kilometers in diameter and 3.7 kilometers deep. It is from the Pre-Nectarian period, 4.55 to 3.92 billion years ago.
The outer rim of Mutus is worn and eroded, with a pair of small but notable craters, Mutus A and Mutus V, lying across the eastern rim. A number of other tiny craters lay along the rim and the interior wall. Another crater, Mutus B, is located on the crater floor, just to the south of the midpoint. The remainder of the interior is relatively flat, and punctuated by several tiny craterlets to the north of Mutus B.
Mutus is named for Vincente Mut, a 17th-century Spanish astronomer and sailor.

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 Mutus.
MutusLatitudeLongitudeDiameter
A63.8° S31.8° E16 km
B63.9° S29.5° E17 km
C61.2° S27.2° E32 km
D58.4° S23.3° E22 km
E65.5° S36.1° E22 km
F66.2° S34.1° E42 km
G67.2° S35.1° E17 km
H63.6° S24.2° E21 km
J62.7° S23.3° E8 km
K57.8° S21.5° E7 km
L61.8° S24.9° E20 km
M59.1° S24.4° E20 km
N62.4° S27.6° E11 km
O57.7° S23.8° E14 km
P59.1° S25.7° E16 km
Q62.2° S30.4° E8 km
R60.8° S23.9° E27 km
S60.5° S22.0° E25 km
T59.2° S21.2° E34 km
V62.9° S31.3° E24 km
W66.6° S40.0° E21 km
X67.1° S36.8° E21 km
Y64.8° S35.0° E26 km
Z64.0° S34.5° E30 km