Montes Riphaeus

{{Short description|Mountain range on the Moon}}

{{Citations missing|date=March 2009}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Montes Riphaeus

| photo = Montes Riphaeus (LRO).png

| photo_caption = LRO image

| elevation =

| listing = Lunar mountains

| location = the Moon

| coordinates = {{Lunar coords and quad cat|7.7|S|28.1|W}}

| type =

| age =

}}

File:Copernicus-Riphaeus Area (Si).jpg

Montes Riphaeus (Latin for "Riphaeus Mountains") is an irregular range of lunar mountains that lie along the west-northwestern edge of Mare Cognitum, on the southeastern edge of Oceanus Procellarum. The range trends generally from north-northeast to south-southwest. It includes a number of slender ridge lines with valleys flooded by intruding flows of lava.{{cite book |last=Spain |first=Don.|date= 2009|title=The Six-Inch Lunar Atlas : A Pocket Field Guide |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-387-87610-8?page=3#toc|url-access=subscription|publisher=Springer |pages=199 |isbn=978-0-387-87609-2|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-87610-8}}

This range is located at selenographic coordinates 7.7° S, 28.1° W. It has a diameter of {{cvt|189|km}}, although it is typically only about {{cvt|30|–|50|km}} wide. The nearest feature of note is Euclides, a small but prominent crater to the west. About {{cvt|100|km}} to the north is the crater Lansberg.

The range is named after the Riphean Mountains in the geography of classical antiquity. Johannes Hevelius was the first astronomer to apply the Riphean label to a feature of the lunar landscape, but Johann Heinrich von Mädler is responsible for the current designation of the Montes Riphaeus.{{cite book|author=Ewen A. Whitaker|title=Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date= 1999|pages= 209|isbn=0521622484}}

Image:Montes Riphaeus AS16-M-2517.jpg|Mountains from Apollo 16

File:Montes Riphaeus AS14-75-10272.jpg|Montes Riphaeus at the horizon, facing west. From Apollo 14.

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