Geological Chronicle
Compton is a prominent crater on the Moon’s far side, east of Mare Humboldtianum and southwest of the walled plain Schwarzschild. Swann, a heavily eroded crater, lies to the southeast. Compton measures 164.63 km in diameter.
Compton is among the largest craters of Lower (Early) Imbrian age. Its roughly circular outer rim is wide and irregular, with a width that varies considerably. Terraced steps along parts of the inner wall form broad shelves. Basalt flows resurfaced the floor some time in the past. That surface has a lower albedo than its surroundings, giving it a slightly darker hue.
The floor contains slender rilles within the ring of hills, mainly in its northwest. Aside from a small, bowl-shaped crater near the eastern rim, only a few tiny craters mark the surface. Mounts at the midpoint make up the central peak; its spectra fit an anorthositic gabbro mineralogy that originated at a depth of 5.9 to 16.2 km. A circle of hills nearly surrounds the midpoint, creating a peak ring with a radius about half that of the inner wall. The ring’s mounts form jagged rises through the basalt-covered surface at irregular intervals. An infrared spectrum of pure crystalline plagioclase has been identified on the peak ring.
Compton is named for American physicists Arthur H. Compton (1892 to 1962) and Karl T. Compton (1887 to 1954). Arthur H. Compton was a 1927 Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery of the Compton effect. The International Astronomical Union formally adopted the crater’s designation in 1970.