Geological Chronicle
Located on the far side of the Moon, Kovalevskaya is an impact crater measuring 113.71 kilometers in diameter. Formed during the Late Imbrian epoch of the lunar geologic timescale, the crater lies southwest of the larger walled plain Landau and north of Poynting and Fersman. Along its southwestern rim, the structure overlies nearly half of the large crater Kovalevskaya Q.
The outer rim of Kovalevskaya remains well-formed and not significantly eroded, while its inner walls have developed terraces and slumped shelves in places. At the midpoint of the interior floor, a pair of central peaks is split by a north–south valley. Spectral observations have identified the signature of pure crystalline plagioclase on the central peaks, the southern and western walls, and ejecta lying to the west of the crater.
Beyond the central peaks, the remainder of the floor is relatively level and free from significant impacts, flanked by hills to the east and low hills near the northwest inner wall. The crater is named after the Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, who also shares her name with the asteroid 1859 Kovalevskaya.