Copernicus crater

'The Monarch of the Moon' — a classic impact crater

Copernicus is a big crater near the middle of the Moon. Its walls step down like a staircase, and three mountains stand in the middle. The crater is so beautiful that scientists nicknamed it 'the Monarch of the Moon'. You can see it even with a small telescope.

Copernicus crater is 93 km wide, 3.8 km deep and ~800 million years old. Its terraced walls and central peaks (1.2 km) are the textbook example of a large impact crater — geologists named a whole period of lunar history 'Copernican' after it. Its rays reach 800 km. Chains of secondary craters from ejected debris surround it. It is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, who showed that Earth orbits the Sun.

Fun facts

• Copernicus crater could hold the city of Tashkent 10 times over.
• In 1966 Lunar Orbiter 2 photographed it — the press called it 'the picture of the century'.
• The peaks on its floor were lifted up from the Moon's deep layers.