Geological Chronicle
Curtius lies in the Moon's southern highlands. From Earth, foreshortening makes detail harder to observe, though the crater is readily found with even small telescopes. T. W. Webb described its wall as "very complex and unusually steep." Curtius is 99.29 kilometers in diameter and 4 kilometers deep.
On the lunar geologic timescale, Curtius dates to the Nectarian period, 3.92 to 3.85 billion years ago. Impact erosion has softened the outer rim, which retains much of its original structure. Two outward bulges on the north and northwest parts of the rim disrupt its symmetry. Curtius E crosses the eastern rim, and bowl-shaped Curtius A lies along the southern rim.
The floor is relatively level, with a low, rounded central peak near its midpoint. The northern inner wall extends farther into the floor than elsewhere, leaving a slightly irregular surface. Tiny craterlets cover the floor, with no other impacts of note across the interior. In 2023, SOFIA, an airborne infrared telescope, detected the signature of a relatively high concentration of water along a "wet ridge" just north of Curtius.