King is a prominent

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 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 ...

, and can not be viewed directly from

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 ...

. The crater was named after Arthur Scott King and Edward Skinner King in 1970. Prior to that, this crater was known as ''Crater 211''. It forms a pair with Ibn Firnas, which is only slightly larger and is attached to the northeast rim of King. To the northwest is the crater Lobachevskiy, and

Guyot In marine geology, a guyot (), also called a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain (seamount) with a flat top more than below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed . Guyots are most commonly fo ...

is located an equal distance to the north-northwest.

Description

The outer rim of King is roughly circular but with a slightly irregular appearance, particularly at the northern end. The crater displays little appearance of wear. The inner walls are

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, particularly along the eastern side. Within the walls is a somewhat uneven interior floor. The interior is irregular and ridged, particularly in the eastern half. The elongated, Y-shaped central rise is part of a ridge that runs to the southern rim. Due to its prominent rays, King is mapped as part of the Copernican System.The geologic history of the Moon, 1987, Wilhelms, Don E.; with sections by McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J.

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

Professional Paper: 1348. Plate 11: Copernican System
online

Sita crater

A tiny crater near the east-southeastern inner wall has been officially given the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n feminine name Sita by the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

. It is located at selenographic

coordinate In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine and standardize the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The coordinates are ...

s 4.6° N, 120.8° E, and has a diameter of 2 kilometres.

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 King. King Y is to the north of King, and it is now a "pool" of impact melt, filled at the time of the King impact. The name "Al-Tusi" had been suggested for King Y, but this was not approved by the IAU. King J is a small crater to the southeast of King, and it is covered by King's ejecta blanket.

Mountain Peaks

Several mountain peaks (''Montes'') within King crater have been named. The names were approved by the IAU in 1976.

Views

File:AS11-42-6271.jpg, Oblique view from

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

, at a high sun angle, showing

albedo Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is Diffuse reflection, diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects ...

differences File:King crater oblique AS12-51-7555.jpg, Oblique view from

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Charles ...

File:King crater central peaks hrp151.jpg , Closeup of the central peaks from

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth human spaceflight, crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the second o ...

File:King crater melt Fig3.36 AS16-P-5000.jpg, Closeup of the impact melt northeast of the crater, showing flow structures, from Apollo 16 File:King crater AS16-M-3001 ASU.jpg, View of King during Apollo 16's trans-earth injection

References

External links

LTO65C1 King
Lunar Topographic Orthophotomap, 1974
LTO65D2 Katchalsky
Lunar Topographic Orthophotomap, 1975 (shows west side of King)
King Crater Flyover
by Lunar and Planetary Institute

an

in Chapter 5 of APOLLO OVER THE MOON: A View From Orbit (NASA SP-362, 1978) are various views of King Crater * From

LROC James Elbert Phillips, known professionally as LRoc, is an American record producer who has served as in-house talent for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings since 1997. His credits include the singles " Call on Me" by Janet Jackson, " Everyt ...

:
King Crater's Unusual Melt Pond

King crater ejecta deposits

Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor

Fault scarp with impact melt in King crater

Making a Splash at King Crater

* * {{Dead link, date=June 2025 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Impact craters on the Moon