Geological Chronicle
Meitner is an 87.27-kilometer impact crater on the lunar far side, situated behind the eastern limb to the northwest of Kondratyuk and about a crater diameter west of Langemak. The crater has relatively well-defined features that have not been significantly eroded by subsequent impacts. Its rim edge is roughly circular with a slight outward bulge along the southern edge, and sections of the inner wall display terrace features.
The interior floor of Meitner is relatively level, marked by a small craterlet just southwest of the midpoint and another along the northwest inner wall. The small satellite crater Meitner C lies across the rim and inner wall to the northeast. During the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8 flew directly over Meitner and obtained high-resolution photographs of the interior.
Prior to formal naming by the International Astronomical Union in 1970, Meitner was called Crater 276. The crater honors the Austrian physicist Lise Meitner.