Geological Chronicle
Cardanus lies in the western part of Oceanus Procellarum, where viewing from an obtuse angle from Earth causes it to appear distinctly oval due to foreshortening. Formed during the Upper Imbrian epoch, the crater measures 49.57 kilometers across. Its surface is rich in pyroxene and feldspathic minerals, with the region showing a mixed mineralogy dominated by clinopyroxene and spinel.
Cardanus is a floor-fractured crater displaying cracks across its floor, alongside several small craterlets and a low ridge near the midpoint. Its outer rim is sharp-edged and somewhat irregular, bordered by a hummocky outer rampart and terraces along parts of the inner wall. Ray material from the crater Olbers A lies across Cardanus.
Cardanus is linked to the crater Krafft to the north by Catena Krafft, a 60-km crater chain that connects their rims. To the southwest lies Rima Cardanus, a 120-km graben system in the mare that generally follows a northeasterly direction.
The crater is named for Italian polymath Gerolamo Cardano. Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli included the name in lunar nomenclature in 1651, and the International Astronomical Union formally adopted the designation in 1935.