Geological Chronicle
Picard is a lunar impact crater that lies in Mare Crisium. Measuring 22.35 kilometers across, it is the biggest non-flooded crater of this mare, slightly larger than Peirce to the north-northwest. Nearby craters include the almost completely flooded Yerkes to the west and the tiny Curtis to the east.
Dating to the Eratosthenian period, which lasted from 3.2 to 1.1 billion years ago, Picard has a well-defined, roughly circular rim that shows little sign of wear and presents a sharp-edged appearance. On the inner wall are layered terraces that seismologists have attributed to a collapse of the crater floor, leading down to a cluster of low hills at the bottom.
The crater is named for seventeenth-century French astronomer and geodesist Jean Picard. Several surrounding features once designated as satellite craters have since been renamed by the International Astronomical Union, including Curtis, Tebbutt, Shapley, and Fahrenheit.