Geological Chronicle
Hell lies in the southern near-side highlands, embedded within the western half of the massive walled plain Deslandres. The impact structure spans 33.31 kilometers in diameter and shows remarkably little erosion compared to the battered terrain surrounding it. Its outline is roughly circular, modified by an outward bulge along the western margin, with a narrow interior wall that descends to an uneven, rolling floor.
Topographic relief across the crater rim is distinctly asymmetrical. While the eastern wall rises roughly 820 meters above the local surface, the northwestern crest reaches two to three times that height. At the center of the rolling floor, several hills converge into a central peak that stands approximately 1 kilometer tall, maintaining a typical lunar depth-to-diameter ratio near one to ten.
Surrounding Hell are 19 satellite craters designated by Latin letters, ranging from 3 to 22 kilometers across. Among these companions, Hell Q represents an especially youthful formation, estimated to be younger than the 108-million-year-old ray crater Tycho situated about nine degrees to the south. Historically labeled Cassini's Bright Spot, Hell Q exhibits two smaller companions of comparable scale that were not formally adopted in modern nomenclature.
The landmark honors Maximilian Hell, an 18th-century Hungarian astronomer and Jesuit priest. Johann Hieronymus Schröter originally applied the name to the entire surrounding plain, but Johann Heinrich von Mädler later restricted the designation to the central crater. Mary Adela Blagg and Karl Müller formalized the name in 1935 during the first official lunar nomenclature catalog published by the International Astronomical Union.