Impact Craters on the Moon

Finding your way around the Moon

The first step in this activity is to change the view in Google Earth, to the Moon.

  • This can be done by going to View >Explore >Moon or by clicking the space_GE.jpgsymbol and choosing 'Moon'. 
  • In the 'Fly To' box, enter the 'Sea of Tranquility'. You will now fly to this location which was the site of the first manned mission to the Moon by the Apollo 11 team. 
  • Enter the coordinates: 0.8N, 23.5 E in the 'Fly To' box. You are now centered upon the actual Moon landing site. 

Impact!

Three impact craters around the landing site of the Apollo 11 mission were named after the crew members - Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin.

  • See if you can find these craters in the area where Apollo 11 landed - you can do this by either zooming into the landing region and reading the crater labels, or by searching for them in the 'Fly To' box. 
  • Using the measure tool Measure_GE.jpg, measure the diameter of the 3 craters:
 Crater Name  Crater Diameter (km)
 Armstrong  
 Collins  
 Aldrin  

Using the 'Fly To' search box and the information below, find the following lunar impact craters and fill out the results table. 

 Crater Name
  Coordinates  Diameter (km)
 Oppenheimer - one of the largest lunar impact craters known, this crater is fairly difficult to see. Zoom out to see the rim of the crater.
 35.2S, 166.3W
  
   13.1N, 61.7E
  
 Tycho - some scientists believe that the asteroid which caused this crater was part of a much larger asteroid which broke up in the asteroid belt 100 million years ago. It's believed that another piece from this break-up went on to hit the Earth 65 million years ago in Mexico, causing the death of the dinosaurs. However, this is open to discussion as scientists are not completely sure of the composition of these impactors.     

Who's the oldest?

We are now going to compare the numbers of craters at different locations on the Moon to help us draw conclusions on the age of the rocks on the Moon. 

  • Fly to the coordinates 60 32 19S, 07 020 31E and zoom into an eye altitude of ~1000km (the eye altitude is given in the lower right hand corner of the Google Earth window).

You are now looking at part of the lunar highlands region. 

  • What do you notice about the number density of craters in this region?
  • How does this compare to the numbers of impact craters which we see on Earth?
  • Why is there a difference between the numbers of craters which we see on Earth and the Moon? (Hint: Think about what Earth has that the Moon doesn't..)

Look at the Clavius crater (just to the left).

  • How big is the crater?
  • What do you notice inside the crater? 

Now fly to the Sea of Tranquility. 

  • What do you notice about the number density of craters in this region?
  • How does this compare to the number density of craters in the lunar highlands?
  • Thinking about your answer to the question above, which area do you think is older, the seas or the lunar highlands? Explain your reasoning. 
Background Info: 
Measuring impact craters on Earth
Impact Craters on Mars
Planning: 
Download Google Earth 5 from the website address above.