Concentric crater

Concentric craters

(glossary entry and list)

Concentric Crater Hesiodus A (LRO)

Description

Small craters (average diameter 8 km) containing a lower inner ring of undetermined origin.
 

Wood's List

This list is a survey and investigation of the original numbered list published in 1978 by C.A.Wood (see Bibliography below).
 

• List with additional information compiled by Danny Caes.

All linked-to images below credit: NASA, USGS Map-A-Planet, USGS Astrogeology Research Program, and Lunar & Planetary Institute. LTVT was used in the annotation of features shown in some images, with some additional annotation here and there using Photoshop Elements.

Eastern hemisphere

1 - Archytas G (southwest of Archytas, west of Protagoras)(almost touching the southern "coastline" of Mare Frigoris, east-northeast of Plato). See paper on Archytas G below in Bibliography.

2 - near Réaumur B (slightly northeast of Gyldén and east of Réaumur A).

3 - Egede G (very near the northeastern end of Vallis Alpes).

4 - Pontanus E (north-northwest of Pontanus, southwest of Sacrobosco, south-southeast of Azophi).

5 - near the southwestern part of the ring Torricelli R

6 - south-southeast of Beaumont, north of Beaumont P

7 - Crozier H (south-west o Crozier).

• AS08-13-2220, which is an orbital Hasselblad photograph made during the mission of Apollo 8 in December 1968, shows concentric crater Crozier H near the photograph's upper right corner. Take also a look at the High-Resolution scan of that photograph. Research Danny Caes

8 - southwest of Endymion

9 - Apollonius N (east of Apollonius itself, south of the dark-floored Firmicus).

10 - near Legendre (a difficult case: should be somewhere northwest of Legendre and south of Palitzsch B).

11 - west-southwest of Dubyago

12 - immediately east-southeast of (or almost touching) the dark mare-like region Schubert N, south of Liouville.

13 - on the floor of Humboldt

14 - immediately south of Hamilton

15 - northeast of Jeans (the possible "Concentric" look of this (so-called) Concentric Crater is, as I see it, a mystery).

16 - east of Chamberlin (this CC is the central one in a curious row of three bowl-shaped craters).

17 - in Pasteur (almost at the centre of Pasteur, near Pasteur M).

18 - near Jules Verne (southwest of Jules Verne, slightly northwest of Jules Verne P).

19 - near Geiger (southeast of Geiger, near Geiger L).

20 - on the floor of Vertregt (slightly east-southeast of Vertregt K). In C.A.Wood's original list it is mentioned as "near Aitken" (N° 20).

Western Hemisphere

21 - Archimedes F (MacMillan)

22 - Hesiodus A (probably the most telescope-friendly and most well-known example of this kind of craters).

23 - Gambart J (west-southwest of Gambart itself).

24 - near Laplace E (north of Montes Recti).

25 - Fontenelle D (the northern and larger one of the distinct couple Fontenelle B and D, west-southwest of Fontenelle itself).

26 - on the western part of **Blancanus C**'s rim (north of Klaproth, southwest of Blancanus itself).

27 - Marth

28 - immediately west of La Condamine F

29 - Hainzel H (east of the "Dark V"; an officially unnamed lacus-like region at 37° South/ 35° West).

30 - near Bouguer B

31 - near Bouguer A

32 - near J. Herschel F (south east of crater), among several twisted arc-shapes.

33 - immediately west-northwest of Mons Gruithuisen Gamma Gruithuisen .

34 - Gruithuisen K (north-northeast of the unnamed chain of teardrop-shaped depressions once photographed by the CMP of Apollo 15: Alfred Worden).

Above: 1.USGS 2. Kaguya/SELENE 3. LROC
35 - west-northwest of Clausius and northwest of Clausius E

36 - Mersenius M (on the eastern part of Mersenius's floor).

37 - Louville DA

38 - Damoiseau BA (west of Sirsalis E).

39 - near Lagrange T

40 - Lagrange T

41 - west-southwest of Markov

42 - immediately east of Cruger (between Cruger and Cruger E).

43 - near Rocca F

44 - Cavalerius E

45 - southeast of Lavoisier, near Lavoisier A. Lunar Orbiter 4's photograph LOIV-183-h2 (immediately east of the above mnetioned LOIV-189-h2), shows Concentric Crater No45, west of Lavoisier A, located on a small system of low ridge-like hills. Research: Danny Caes.

46 - Repsold A The LPIs Hi-Res scan of Lunar Orbiter 4's photograph LOIV-189-h3 shows Repsold and its Concentric Crater Repsold A near the frame's left margin. Repsold A is the 46th item in C.A.Wood's list of Concentric Craters (1978). LO-IV-189H Repsold is the large circular enclosure in the center. Straddling its southwest rim is 44-km Repsold G, through which runs a part of Rimae Repsold. The 9-km concentric crater on the northeast floor of Repsold is Repsold A. Beyond it, outside the main rim is 38-km Repsold B (upper right corner). Maps: (LAC zone 22D1) USGS Digital Atlas. Research: Danny Caes.

47 - in Struve

48 - in Lavoisier
. . Kaguya/SELENE view
49 - in Minkowski

50 - on the northern part of the basin Apollo

51 - near De Vries


The thumbnail below will give you a general view of C.A. Wood's official list of Concentric Craters on the Moon.

Image: Click image for larger view (to return to same page afterwards, use your back button).

Additional CC's

Concentric craters and possible concentric craters, not mentioned in C. A. Wood's original list
 

• Several photographs of the moon's far side, made by ZOND 8, show the northern part of the Apollo basin. For example: Frame 41 shows Apollo's north-western part near the frame's upper-right corner (above the black disc with white numbers in it). Above this black disc (about "halfway" between the black disc and the frame's upper margin) at 31° South/ 154° West is a Concentric Crater Research: Danny Caes
• southwest of Aitken (on the floor of Vertregt), see AS15-P-8859, and AS15-P-8861 (this CC is located near the right margins of both frames). See also AS17-150-22964(because of the high solar illumination in this Hasselblad photograph, the "double walled" appearance of the Concentric Crater is not very distinct). Note that this Concentric Crater is not the same as N°20 in C.A.Wood's list!
  • 
• in Bell (Bell E). The LPIs Hi-Res scan of Lunar Orbiter 4's photograph LOIV-196-h3 shows Bell and its Concentric Crater Bell E near the frame's left margin. This Concentric Crater was not catalogued in the list prepared by C.A.Wood (1978). Research: Danny Caes. Maps (LAC zone 54C1) USGS Atlas PDF.
  • 
• Bonpland D (only one part of Bonpland D's rim is "double", probably caused by the nearby Dorsum Guettard).
  • 
• near Cassini C
  • 
• East of Crisium Basin
  • - JohnMoore2
• In Mare Crisium's north-western floor (west of crater Swift).
  • - JohnMoore2
• Damoiseau D (the bowl-shaped crater southwest of Damoiseau itself).
  • 
• Demoraes (east of Demoraes itself).
  • - JohnMoore2
• Edith near Bowditch and Lacus Solitudinis (looks remarkably Concentric on four of Apollo 15's orbital ITEK-panoramic frames!).
• in Fermi(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• in Firmicus M(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• Fizeau Q(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• in Fraunhofer(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• in Ginzel(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• west of Kapteyn(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• Kepinsky(?)
  • 
• Krafft H(uncertain)
  • 
• Krafft K(uncertain)
  • 
• Lamarck B, see LOIV-168-h1
  • 
• Leakey
  • 
• in Lee M(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2 Yes, a CC - Tychocrater
  • 
• in Louville A(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2 Still uncertain, maybe no - Tychocrater
  • 
• near Marinus C(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2 No, looks like a chance impact - Tychocrater
  • 
• near Mersenius S or C
  • 
• slightly "double walled" crater in Parrot
  • 
• Riccioli C/CA
  • 
• west of Schomberger C
  • 
• east ofStark(uncertain or unconfirmed) - JohnMoore2
  • 
• in Street M
  • 
• Possible Concentric Crater at 17° North/ 77°30' West (only the western part of it shows a "double rim", see LOIV-182-h2) (might be Krafft H, see also Krafft K east of Krafft H).
  • 
• Possible Concentric Crater La Condamine SA, at 57°30' North/ 26°30' West (west of the bright ray-crater La Condamine S). See: LOIV-145-h3. Note also the field of curious twisted arc-shapes in the neighborhood of this possible Concentric Crater.

• Surveyor 1
  • 
  • The series of images above show examples of several CC lookalikes in the region of the Surveyor 1 site taken by the onboard Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) Camera. NB. This is just one example of where possible CCs may be found from this source -- browse and explore the archives here. Click image for larger view. - JohnMoore2

• • These are concentric craters but not the same size range as what is otherwise referred to as concentric craters on the Moon. Each of these is the result of a single small impact into layered lava flows, with a crater formed in each hard lava surface. The fact that kilometer-size CC form near edges of maria is possible evidence that they too result from impacts into layers. I don't think that is the answer, but it could be. - tychocrater Nov 25, 2009

CC's and handcuff-shaped arcs

• A curious field of twisted bay- and arc-shapes; "handcuffs" (the remains of small craters and crater-like depressions in the shape of open and closed handcuffs) is noticeable in the part of Mare Frigoris between J. Herschel and La Condamine, and north-northeast of La Condamine.
  There seems to be an abundance of Concentric Craters in regions where this kind of twisted bay- and arc-shapes is scattered all over and in quite large amounts.
  The central section of photograph LO IV-152-H1 and the upper half of photograph LO IV-145-H3 show the field of the twisted bay- and arc-shapes (and Concentric Craters) very well.

- DannyCaes Nov 10, 2009

Alphabetical List

Arrangement is based on the craters/lettered craters referencing the concentric crater.
 

Name	Comments	C.A.Wood No.
Aitken	near	#20
Apollo	in	#50
Apollonius N		#9
Archimedes F		#21
Archytas G		#1
Beaumont P	near	#6
Bell E	in
Blancanus C	in	#26
Bonpland D
Bouguer A	near	#31
Bouguer B	near	#30
Cassini C	near
Cavalerius E		#44
Chamberlin	near, uncertain	#16
Clausius E	near	#35
Crisium	unconfirmed
Crisium East	unconfirmed
Crozier H		#7
Cruger	near	#42
Damoiseau BA
Damoiseau D
De Moraes	near, uncertain
De Vries	near	#51
Dubyago	near	#11
Egede G	uncertain	#3
Endymion	near	#8
Fermi	unconfirmed
Firmicus M	unconfirmed
Fizeau Q	unconfirmed
Fontanelle D		#25
Fraunhofer	unconfirmed
Gambart J		#23
Geiger	near	#19
Ginzel	in, unconfirmed
Gruithuisen K		#34
Gruithuisen M	near	#33
Hainzel H		#29
Hamilton	near	#14
Hesiodus A		#22
Humboldt	in	#13
Jeans	near	#15
J. Herschel F	near	#32
Jules Verne	near	#18
Kapteyn	unconfirmed
Kepinsky	uncertain
Krafft H
Krafft K
La Condamine F	near	#28
Lagrange T		#40
Lagrange T	near	#39
Lamarck B
Laplace E	near, uncertain	#24
Lavoisier	near	#45
Lavoisier A
Leakey
Lee M	in, unconfirmed
Legendre	near	#10
Louville A	in, unconfirmed
Louville DA		#37
Marinus C	near, unconfirmed
Markov	near	#41
Marth		#27
Mersenius M		#36
Mersenius S
Minkowski	in	#49
Parrot	in
Pasteur	in	#17
Pontanus E		#4
Reaumur B	near	#2
Repsold A	uncertain	#46
Riccioli C/CA
Rocca F	near	#43
Schomberger C	near
Schubert N	near	#12
Stark	uncertain
Street M	in
Struve	in	#47
Surveyor 1	unconfirmed
Torricelli R	near	#5

LROC Articles

• Terraced Craters in Aitken Crater

LPOD Articles

• Concentric Craters
• Two New/Old CCs
• Is Marth a Concentric Crater?
• More Marth
• A New Concentric Crater!
• Another New Concentric Crater?
• Donut (Apollo 16 and Crozier H).

Bibliography

• Trang, D. et al (2011). The Origin of Lunar Concentric Craters – 42nd LPSC Conference (Mar), 2011.
• Freeman, V. A. F. REGOLITH OF THE APOLLO 16 SITE - "Location of concentric craters used to estimate depths of regolith." p149, 154, 156.
• Wöhler, C and Lena, R (2009) THE LUNAR CONCENTRIC CRATER ARCHYTAS G ASSOCIATED WITH AN INTRUSIVE DOME from the 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2009).
• Wood, C.A. (1978) Lunar Concentric Craters (includes a list).

---