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This is a list of officially named craters in the Solar System as named by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature.As of 2017, there is a total of 5,223 craters on 40 astronomical bodies, which includes minor planets (asteroids and dwarf planets), planets, and natural satellites. [1]
An impact crater is a depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, [2] impact craters typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain. [3]
Following are the largest impact craters on various worlds of the Solar System.For a full list of named craters, see List of craters in the Solar System.The ratio column compares the crater diameter with the diameter of the impacted celestial body.
The crater is about 186 km (116 mi) in diameter and lies within an immense impact crater known as the South Pole–Aitken basin of roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and 13 km (8.1 mi) deep. [1] Von Kármán is the site of the first soft-landing on the lunar far side by the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft on 3 January 2019.
Researchers believe they’ve discovered the world’s largest asteroid impact crater in New South Wales, Australia. They think the impact may have happened between 445 and 443 million years ago.
The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the 4.5 km (2.8 mi) Rio Cuarto crater in Argentina. [2] However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins [ 3 ] and age, with some sources giving it as < 10 ka [ 2 ] [ 4 ] while the EID gives a broader < 100 ka.
Compared to other bodies in our Solar System, Earth's moon isn't particularly huge. However, its relatively small size belies one of its most interesting features, which is a colossal crater ...
A volcanic crater is a bowl-shaped depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity, usually located above the volcano's vent. [11] During volcanic eruptions, molten magma and volcanic gases rise from an underground magma chamber, through a conduit, until they reach the crater's vent, from where the gases escape into the atmosphere and the magma is erupted as lava.