Vetchinkin (crater)

Vetchinkin

Apollo 16 mapping camera image. Gamma-ray spectrometer is at right. NASA photo.
Coordinates	10°12′N 131°18′E / 10.2°N 131.3°E / 10.2; 131.3Coordinates: 10°12′N 131°18′E / 10.2°N 131.3°E / 10.2; 131.3
Diameter	98 km
Depth	Unknown
Colongitude	230° at sunrise
Eponym	Vladimir P. Vetchinkin

Vetchinkin is an eroded lunar impact crater. It is located to the west-northwest of the huge walled plain Mendeleev, on the far side of the Moon. To the west-northwest of Vetchinkin lies the crater Meshcherskiy, to the south-southeast lies Green and to the south is Hartmann. Also other nearby craters are small and they include Rutherford to the east and Bergman and Moissan to the southeast, the last two are inside Mendeleev.

This crater is heavily worn and eroded, and little remains of the original outer rim. The satellite crater Vetchinkin K falls across the eastern side of the rim, and Vetchinkin Q forms a small but prominent crater in the southwestern part of the floor. The remainder of the crater interior is marked by various small craterlets and minor impacts, and there is little to distinguish this feature from the surrounding battered terrain.

The crater is named after the Russian physicist and engineer Vladimir Petrovich Vetchinkin. Prior to naming in 1970 by the IAU, this crater was known as Crater 215.

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Vetchinkin.