A five-ton piece of a SpaceX rocket that sent two lunar landers to the moon is about to hit the lunar surface on August 5, at around 2:34 am ET. The piece belongs to the upper stage of a discarded Falcon 9 rocket.
Benjamin Fernando, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told ABC News that they expect the crash to create a flash of light and cloud of debris, leaving a fresh crater on the lunar surface.
The collision will help researchers better understand the makeup of the moon and how lunar craters are formed.
Indeed, it was the Italian astronomer Galileo who in 1609 first turned his telescope towards the moon to observe that far-from-perfect sphere; our nearest satellite was textured with numerous mountains and cup-like depressions. These roughly circular, excavated holes were quickly called "craters," probably after kratēr, a Greek vessel used to mix wine and water.
The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. Most have also been given names, but after whom are these lunar impact craters named?
Click through and discover the eponyms for some of the moon's most prominent craters.