Impact craters are the dominant geographic features on many solid Solar System objects including the Moon, Mercury, Callisto, Ganymede, and most small moons and asteroids.

Sep 25, 2025 · What Is an Impact Crater? An impact crater is formed when an object like an asteroid or meteorite crashes into the surface of a larger solid object like a planet or a moon. …

These are impact craters, each of which was formed when an asteroid or comet collided with the Moon's surface. The large number of craters in this region indicates that this part of the Moon …

Dec 16, 2024 · Impact craters are formed when an asteroid or meteoroid collides with a planet’s surface. The force of the impact causes dramatic changes to the terrain, creating raised rims, …

At these speeds, the energy of impact produces a violent explosion that excavates a large volume of material in a symmetrical way. Photographs of bomb and shell craters on Earth confirm that …

Oct 27, 2025 · The current state of knowledge of complex crater formation relies primarily on inferences drawn from field observations of Earth’s impact structures and spacecraft imagery …

Nov 16, 2025 · Impact craters are formed when a high-velocity object from space, such as a meteoroid, asteroid, or comet, collides with the surface of a planet or moon. The impact of the …

This list of impact structures (including impact craters) on Earth contains the majority of the 194+ confirmed impact structures given in the Earth Impact Database as of 2024.

Dec 4, 2025 · Popigai is one of the largest and most well-preserved impact craters on Earth. The “young” and well-preserved crater helps scientists understand cratering processes on Earth …

What is an Impact Crater? An impact crater is a bowl-shaped depressed surface of a planet, Moon, asteroid, or other celestial body caused by the high-speed collision of a solid object, …