Image
taken by
Apollo 17
Conon is a small but
prominent lunar
impact crater that lies in the eastern foothills of the
Montes Apenninus mountain range. Just to the west of Conon
is the long mountainous
ridge named Mons Bradley. The nearest craters possessing an
eponym are
Galen,
about 70 kilometers
to the east, and Aratus,
about the same distance to the northeast.
The edge of the Conon crater rim
is sharply defined and has not received significant
erosion from later impacts. The inner wall is somewhat
variable in width, and the interior floor forms an
irregular oval shape. This irregularity may be due to
the rough and uneven surface on which the crater was
formed. The floor is rough, but lacks a central
prominence of note.
To the south, in the Sinus Fidei, is a sinuous rille that
follows a course to the south-southeast. This rille is
designated Rima Conon, and is named after this
crater.
History
Conon of Samos (circa
280 BC -
circa: 220 BC) was
a Greek astronomer and mathematician.
Conon was born on Samos,
Ionia, and
possibly died in Alexandria,
Ptolemaic
Egypt,
where he was court astronomer to Ptolemy III Euergetes. He named the constellation Coma Berenices ("Berenice's Hair") after Ptolemy's wife
Berenice II. She sacrificed her hair in exchange for
her husband's safe return from the Third Syrian War,
which began in 246 BCE. When the lock of hair
disappeared, Conon explained that the goddess had shown
her favor by placing it in the sky. Not all Greek
astronomers accepted the designation. In Ptolemy's
Almagest,
Coma Berenices is not listed as a distinct
constellation. However, Ptolemy does attribute several
seasonal indications (parapegma)
to Conon.
Conon was a friend of the
mathematician Archimedes.
Apollonius of Perga reported that he worked on conic
sections