Copernican Craters

Set of two fresh, unnamed impact craters with large, spectacular ejecta patterns. Because they still have rays, they are Copernican aged, which covers the last 1 billion years in the lunar geologic timescale. Could they be as old as 1 billion years? Not likely. Since they are so bright and have very few superposed impact craters, they are very young — surely less than 100 million years and possibly as young as a few million years. Each is incredibly well preserved: crisp crater rims, steep crater walls, and delicate, small-scale ejecta patterns. Both images were acquired while the Sun was nearly overhead, which highlights surface brightness (albedo) variations.

• Latitude: -2.741°
• Longitude: 37.231°
• Camera: NAC
• Image Width: 3.2 km
• Image(s): M108992058LR
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