The largest crater on the Moon is one of the largest in the solar system. And it’s even bigger than we thought

The Aitken Basin is the name given to the largest crater on our only permanent natural satellite, the Moon. Its size is such that it is not only the largest lunar crater, but also it is also one of the largest craters we know of in the solar system.

A growing crater. Well, this immense crater has just “grown.” Although not in a literal sense: a new study has revealed that the Aitken basin is even larger than we thought until now. The new discovery could help us in the future to learn more details about the origins of our Moon.

Ancient and unexplorable. The crater is located in the south of the satellite, encompassing the lunar south pole. In addition to being the largest crater on the satellite, it is also the oldest: it is estimated that the impact that caused it occurred about 4,000 million years ago.

Its age and size are factors that make it difficult to study this environment. Although on the Moon sediments or erosion are not problems for studying this type of formations on our satellite, billions of years of minor asteroid impacts have altered their appearance and characteristics, making their study more complex. explains the team responsible for the new job.

Bigger and circular. Observations of this lunar region had led experts to describe it as a relatively elliptical region, which in turn led to the assumption that it was the result of an impact oblique of an asteroid. The new study contradicts that notion, reevaluating the perimeter of the basin and thus its shape and size.

The analysis has revealed a larger and rounder crater, leading those responsible for the study to point out that the impact that caused it was more direct than previously believed. This new data, the team explains, could test what we know about the history of our satellite.

More than 200 mountain formations. For its analysis, the team responsible for the new study used the data obtained by the LRO probe (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) from NASA. They identified for further study more than 200 mountain formations in the surroundings of the basin. These were formations, they explain, that they believed were related to the remains left behind by the impact that opened the basin.

From the distribution and shape of these “mountain-like formations,” they concluded that this impact had left behind the most circular crater. The details of the work were published in an article in the magazine Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

In the spotlight. A more direct impact has implications beyond the shape of the crater: it also affects the dispersion of the impact debris in question. Perhaps in a few years we will be able to study the rocks dispersed by this impact: the south pole of the Moon is one of the places of interest in lunar exploration and the environment in which the Artemis missions are expected to land.

A greater presence of water in the area is one of the key factors that has led various agencies to focus on this region. Another example is India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which recently found minerals possibly linked to this impact in the area.

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Image | NASA/GSFC/University of Arizona