Geological Chronicle
Positioned along the eastern edge of Mare Insularum on the central near side of the Moon, Lalande spans 23.54 kilometers in diameter. The impact feature exhibits terracing along its interior walls and a low central rise situated at the midpoint of its floor.
Lalande is enveloped by a prominent high-albedo blanket that projects bright rays outward to a maximum radius exceeding 300 kilometers. Because these rays physically overlie ejecta from the larger Copernicus crater, geologists place Lalande within the Copernican period, establishing an age of no more than 800 million years.
The crater is also considered the source of a verified lunar meteorite. In 2002, researchers discovered the rock specimen Sayh al Uhaymir 169 in Oman, which was excavated by an impact less than 340,000 years ago and is believed by scientists to have originated from the ejecta blanket surrounding Lalande.