Dryden 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 ...
located in the southern
hemisphere
Hemisphere may refer to:
In geometry
* Hemisphere (geometry), a half of a sphere
As half of Earth or any spherical astronomical object
* A hemisphere of Earth
** Northern Hemisphere
** Southern Hemisphere
** Eastern Hemisphere
** Western Hemi ...
on the
far side of the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
. It lies within the huge walled plain called
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
and is one of several features within that basin named after people associated with the
Apollo program
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
. Apollo itself has an inner ring, and Dryden is attached to the west-northwest part of that circular mountain formation. To the south of Dryden along the same range is the crater
Chaffee.
The perimeter of Dryden forms a crude circle with an irregular shape due to several small outward bulges. The most notable of these is along the eastern side where the rim has slumped inwards. The rim is not significantly worn, and displays a sharp edge. Attached to the southeastern exterior is the ridge forming part of the inner ring of Apollo. The northeastward extension of this ring is less well defined, but appears to begin at the eastern rim.
Much of the inner wall of the crater consists of a gently sloping inner surface with a pile of debris along the bottom, forming a ring around the interior floor. Offset slightly northeast of the midpoint is a central peak formation. The remainder of the interior is marked only by a few tiny craterlets.
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 Dryden.
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Impact craters on the Moon
{{Craters on the Moon: C-F