Geological Chronicle
Poincaré is a large impact basin in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. As a peak-ring basin, the structure contains an interior topographic ring or a discontinuous ring of peaks with no central peak. Subsequent impacts have heavily eroded the formation, leaving rugged remnants of the original outer rim to the west while the eastern half has been completely worn away.
Much of the interior has been resurfaced by lava flows, producing a dark surface with a lower albedo than the surrounding terrain. Across the eastern section of the floor, a rugged formation forms a low north–south range, possibly the remnant of an inner ring.
Measuring 345.99 kilometers in diameter, Poincaré is bordered by several notable craters: Hopmann lies to the north, Abbe and Hess sit to the east, and the walled plain Planck extends directly to the west. The International Astronomical Union adopted the name in 1970, honoring French mathematician and physicist Jules Henri Poincaré.