Lunar Science · Impact Record
Copernicus: The Landmark Crater of Oceanus Procellarum
A prominent lunar impact crater with high terraced walls, a complex central peak, and an expansive ray system visible across the lunar near side.
Feature Profile
- Feature type
- Crater, craters
- Coordinates
- 9.6° N · 20.1° W
- Diameter
- 96.1 km
- Depth
- 3.8 km
- Central Peak
- 1.2 km
- IAU approval
- 1935/01/01 00:00:00
- LAC quadrangle
- LAC-58 · Copernicus
- Age
- ≈ 800 Ma
- Geological Period
- Copernican
Background
Copernicus is one of the most prominent impact craters on the Moon's near side, situated in eastern Oceanus Procellarum south of Mare Imbrium. The IAU Gazetteer records a diameter of approximately 96.1 kilometres; its prominent morphology gives the Copernican period its name.
Formed approximately 800 million years ago, Copernicus is relatively young in lunar geological terms. As a result, its features remain remarkably sharp: massive terraced inner walls, a broad hexagonal rim, and a flat crater floor punctuated by three distinct central peaks rising up to 1.2 kilometres above the floor.
Surrounding Copernicus is one of the Moon's most extensive ray systems, ejecting material across more than 800 kilometres of the lunar surface. Samples collected during the Apollo 12 mission, which landed roughly 400 kilometres south in Oceanus Procellarum, contained glass fragments and ejecta linked directly to the impact that created Copernicus.
Through the Craterra lunar simulator, Copernicus can be explored at full selenographic scale, examining LOLA-derived elevation data across the central peaks, terraced scarps, and surrounding crater rays.
Name origin
Nicholas; Polish astronomer (1473-1543).