Geological Chronicle
Tooley Crater measures approximately 7 km wide and lies within the floor of Shoemaker Crater near the south pole of the Moon. Positioned in a permanently shadowed region where direct sunlight never reaches the floor, it ranks among the colder and less-illuminated areas on the lunar surface.
The crater's low temperatures make it a potential cold trap for ices and other volatiles, drawing scientific interest for studies of lunar volatile transport and solar wind interactions. Because the interior remains in shadow, researchers rely on indirect illumination reflected from nearby crater rims. Optical observations with the ShadowCam instrument on the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter have mapped surface textures and slopes across the dark floor.
In January 2021, the International Astronomical Union approved the name Tooley in honor of Craig R. Tooley, a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center engineer and project manager. Tooley led the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission from development through its launch and early operations, overseeing spacecraft efforts that first imaged this polar region in detail.