Chandler is a lunar

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

in the

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, on the

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's far side. It lies to the southeast of the large walled plain

D'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert ( ; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanics, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''E ...

, and southeast of the slightly smaller Chernyshev crater. This is a heavily worn and eroded crater that is now essentially a wide, irregular depression in the rugged lunar surface. Attached to the outer south-southwest rim is the slightly smaller but equally worn Chandler P. Multiple small craters lie along the rim and inner wall of Chandler, but the northern part of the rim has been nearly obliterated by a cluster of small impacts. There is also seemingly a chain of impacts that run across the crater midpoint, with a double impact in the western half and a chain of three impacts in the eastern half. The remainder of the floor is somewhat irregular, with multiple tiny craters and a pair of small impacts near the southern rim. Prior to formal naming by the

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in 1970, Chandler was called ''Crater 66''.Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1A)
2nd Edition October 1967 Chandler P crater was called ''Crater 64'', and an unnamed crater to the northeast of Chandler was called ''Crater 68''.

Satellite craters

By convention, these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Chandler.

Satellite craters

Further reading