Cleostratus (crater)

Cleostratus is a lunar impact crater near the northwest limb of the Moon. It lies to the northeast of the crater Xenophanes,^[2] and west-southwest of the prominent Pythagoras.^[3] From the Earth this crater appears highly elongated due to foreshortening.^[4]

The rim of this crater has become soft-shouldered due to steady impact erosion, and the formation is now just a depression in the surface surrounded by an eroded rise. A pair of small craters lie across the southwest rim, forming part of a short chain of craters leading to the west. Along the crest of the southern rim is a linear ridge. The satellite crater Cleostratus E is attached to the northwest rim, and intrudes slightly into the inner wall. The interior floor of this crater is flat and nearly featureless, having only a few tiny craterlets marking the surface.^[5]: 10

This formation is named after Greek astronomer Cleostratus (unkn-c. 500 B.C.).^[6][1] His name was included in the lunar nomenclature of the Italian astronomer Giovanni B. Riccioli in 1651.^[7] Its designation was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1935.^[1]