Furnerius (crater)

135.03

Furnerius is a large impact crater in the southern lunar front side, south of the Mare Fecunditatis and the crater Petavius ​​, southeast of Stevinus. Southwest of Furnerius is the smaller crater Fraunhofer.

The rim is heavily eroded and partially leveled, the interior is largely flat. By the northeastern part runs in a southeasterly direction, the moon groove Rima Furnerius.

The crater was officially named by the IAU in 1935 after the French Jesuit, mathematician and geographer Georges Fournier.

The name appears originally on the Moon Greeting Card by Giovanni Battista Riccioli from 1651 as " Furnerius Soc. I ", where" Soc. I "for the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Order is. At the time of inclusion in the nomenclature and the publication seems to have been lost due to incorrect spelling of the name of the reference. The name has since been attributed to a French mathematician named " George Furner " (fl. 1643).