Popov (crater)
lunar crater
Popov is a crater on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the eastern limb. It measures approximately 71.4 kilometers (44.4 miles) in diameter and is located along the very edge of the area of surface that is sometimes brought into view of the Earth during periods of favorable libration and illumination. However even at such times it is not prominent and can only be viewed edge-on.
Description
This crater lies due south of Dziewulski, and the crater chain designated Catena Dziewulski passes just to the northeast of Popov's outer rim. Just to the southeast of Popov lies Möbius, and the two are joined together by a smaller crater that lies along the south-southeast rim of Popov. To the southwest lies the crater Ginzel and Mare Marginis.
Popov is a worn crater with a damaged outer rim that is little more than a circular, jumbled series of ridges in the surface. Several small craterlets lie along the rim and inner wall, particularly along the western side. The interior floor is otherwise relatively level and nearly without any features.
It is named after Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov, who is considered to be the inventor of radio in his homeland and eastern European countries.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Popov (crater)” as lunar crater. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7229459. Authority coordinates are 16.930, 99.380. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Popov (crater)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.