science

Little West (lunar crater)

Little West (lunar crater) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Little West (lunar crater) rather than just read about it. In short: Little West is a small crater (30m diameter) in Mare Tranquillitatis on the Moon, east of the Apollo 11 landing site known as Tranquility Base. The Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle approximately 60 meters west of Little West Crater on July 20, 1969.

Key takeaways

Little West (lunar crater) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Little West (lunar crater) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Little West (lunar crater) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Little West is a small crater (30m diameter) in Mare Tranquillitatis on the Moon, east of the Apollo 11 landing site known as Tranquility Base. The Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle approximately 60 meters west of Little West Crater on July 20, 1969. This is the crater Neil Armstrong mentions during his final descent onto the lunar surface. The south-west rim of the crater marks the farthest point that either astronaut traveled from the Lunar Module during their time on the lunar surface for the Apollo 11 mission. No visit to a crater had been planned during the landing since there was no expectation that the lander would be near a crater of any size. Armstrong observed some rocks at the center of the crater but didn't enter the crater to sample them. The crater was named "Little West Crater" because of its proximity along the Lunar Module's flight path to West crater, the far larger, football-field-sized crater of similar name. For some years, Little West Crater was referred to as "East Crater" in the ALSJ (Apollo Lunar Surface Journal) and various derivatives. At the time of Apollo 11, the words “east” and “west” were used to describe directions on the Moon from the perspective of an observer on Earth. The crater was therefore named “Little West Crater” even though it appears to the east of the landing site on modern Lunar maps. The name was officially approved by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature on July 26, 2017. Neil Armstrong's tracks to the crater were visible in images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Little West (lunar crater)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Little West (lunar crater) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Little West (lunar crater) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Little West (lunar crater) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Little West (lunar crater)

In research: Little West (lunar crater) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Little West (lunar crater) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Little West (lunar crater) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Apollo 11, Impact craters on the Moon, LQ12 quadrangle, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Little West (lunar crater) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Little West (lunar crater)” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Little West (lunar crater) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Little West (lunar crater) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Little West (lunar crater) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Little West (lunar crater) in simple terms?

Why does Little West (lunar crater) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Little West (lunar crater)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Little West (lunar crater).