Balboa is a lunarimpact crater that is located near the western limb of the Moon. Due to foreshortening, the crater appears highly oval when viewed from the Earth. In actuality, however, the formation is relatively circular. It is comparable in size to the crater Dalton, located just to the southwest. The eastern rim of Balboa lies just to the west of the Oceanus Procellarum.
The rim of Balboa is worn and eroded, with the most intact sections along the eastern and western edges. The crater interior has been flooded with basalticlava in the past, and the floor is marked fractures.[1] Nearby Dalton and an unnamed crater northwest of satellite crater Balboa B are similarly fractured.
Balboa A is a well-formed impact crater located just to the southeast of Balboa, with a sharp, notched rim and an irregular interior. Its diameter is only somewhat smaller than Dalton directly to the west.
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 Balboa.
Balboa
Latitude
Longitude
Diameter
A
17.4° N
81.9° W
47 km
B
20.3° N
82.3° W
62 km
C
19.6° N
79.1° W
27 km
D
18.2° N
79.7° W
40 km
Balboa A crater
References
^The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. USGS Professional Paper: 1348. (online)
Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763. S2CID122125855.