#nicollet

The Rupes Recta is a fault line on the Moon, stretching for 110 km (68 miles) at a height of about 240-300 m (790-985 ft). It is located in Mare Nubium, Latin for Sea of Clouds.

Some craters are nearby. From left to right:

Thebit crater is named after Thābit ibn Qurra (826-901), an Arabic astronomer who preserved the works of Ptolemy and calculated the length of a day to be 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 12 seconds (only off by 2 seconds!)

Birt crater is named for English astronomer William Radcliffe Birt (1804-1881) who carried out a lot of work researching Earth's atmosphere. He also published maps of the lunar surface.

Nicollet crater is named after French astronomer Joseph Nicolas Nicollet (1786-1843). He was a colleague of the mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace and discovered a comet. He later emigrated to the United States where he led several expeditions of the Upper Mississippi River basin.

Wolf crater is named after Maximilian Wolf (1863-1932), a German astronomer and pioneer of astrophotography.