Hale is a relatively young

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

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 ...

that is located on the southern limb 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 ...

. Over half the crater lies on the far side of the

, and from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

this formation is viewed from the side. Thus the crater must be viewed from

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

in order to discern much detail. The nearest crater of note is Wexler to the north. To the east on the far side is the huge walled plain Schrödinger, and to the southwest is the crater Demonax. The rim of Hale is well-defined, with little wear from later impacts, but has a somewhat irregular, notched perimeter. The inner surface is multiply

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

d with some indications of slumping. The inner floor is flat with only a few tiny craterlets to mark the surface. Near the midpoint of the interior is a complex central peak formation, with an additional low rise just to the north.

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 Hale.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Impact craters on the Moon