Lunar craters Lunar craters Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, almost all of which were formed by impacts. The word "crater" was adopted from the Greek word for vessel - (Κρατήρ a Greek vessel used to mix wine and water). Galileo built his first telescope in late 1609, and turned it to the Moon for the first time on November 30, 1609. He discovered that, contrary to general opinion at that time, the Moon was not a perfect sphere, but had both mountains and cup-like depressions. These were named craters by Schroeter (1791), extending
Lunar craters named lunar craters are "satellite craters": their names consist of the name of a nearby named crater and a capital letter (for example, , , and so on). Lunar crater chains are usually named after a nearby crater. Their Latin names contain the word "Catena" ("chain"). For example, "Catena Davy" is situated near the crater Davy. The red marker on these images illustrates the location of the named crater feature on the near side of the Moon. Lunar craters Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, almost all of which were formed by