Lunar Impact Craters and Surfaces

High-resolution images of lunar terrain featuring various impact craters, surface textures, and geological formations in grayscale. Evokes a sense of desolation and exploration.

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$This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the northeastern rim of Urvara Crater on Ceres at lower left. To the right of the crater, the long, narrow feature that appears to jut out toward the north is called Pongal Catena, which is about 60 miles (96 km) long. Catenae are large grooves or troughs that can have various origins. They refer to chains of closely connected craters formed by a series of impacts, as found on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. They can also represent large faults created by internal forces, for example in this example found on Mars. The mechanism that formed Pongal Catena is not understood yet, but it likely formed as a consequence of the stresses generated by the large impacts that resulted in the formation of the Urvara and Yalode craters. Pongal catena is one of several types of fractures found in this region that reflect a complex history. A feature called Nar Sulcus is another example. Studying the geometry of these features and their relationships can help shed$

$This image highlights the complex set of fractures near the center of the large (72 miles, 116 kilometers) Ezinu Crater. It was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on September 2, 2018 from an altitude of about 2095 miles (3070 kilometers). NASA announced the conclusion of Dawn's mission operations was Oct. 31, 2018, when the spacecraft depleted its hydrazine. The center of Ezinu Crater is located at about 43.2 degrees north latitude and 195.7 degrees east longitude. Ezinu Crater is named after the Sumerian goddess of the grain.$