Guillaume Le Gentil
Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (Coutances, 12 September 1725 – Paris, 22 October 1792) was a French astronomer.
Biography
He was born in Coutances and first intended to enter the church before turning to astronomy. He discovered what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the constellation Cygnus).
Le Gentil (crater)
Le Gentil is a lunar crater that is located in the south-southwest part of the Moon, near the limb, and is nearly attached to the southern rim of the huge walled plain Bailly. To the southeast is the large crater Drygalski. Due to its location, this crater appears considerably foreshortened and is viewed from an oblique angle by observers on the Earth.
As a formation this crater has been deeply eroded by impacts, leaving a heavily worn formation that is little more than a depression in the surface. The rim exists as a circular, rolling ridge with indents and notches where small craters have gouged out the surface. The interior floor is covered in a multitude of tiny craterlets and two small craters: Le Gentil C and Le Gentil B. There is a smaller craterlet attached to the eastern rim of Le Gentil C.
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 Le Gentil.
References
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