List of lunar features

Lunar nearside with major Lakr and craters labeled

Lunar maria (singular mare) are large, dark, regions of the Moon. They do not contain any water, but are believed to have been formed from molten rock from the Moon's mantle coming out onto the surface of the Moon. This list also includes the one oceanus and the features known by the names lacus, palus and sinus. The modern system of lunar nomenclature was introduced in 1651 by Riccioli.[1] Riccioli's map of the Moon was drawn by Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who has a crater named after him.[2]

The large majority of these features are impact craters. The crater nomenclature is governed by the International Astronomical Union, and this list only includes features that are officially recognized by that scientific society.

The lunar craters are listed in the following subsections. Where a formation has associated satellite craters (smaller associated craters), these are detailed on the main crater description pages.

Several large lunar valleys have been given names. Most of them are named after a nearby crater; see the list of craters on the Moon for more information.

The heights of the isolated mountains or massifs listed here are not consistently reported across sources. In the 1960s, the US Army Mapping Service used elevation relative to 1,737,988 meters from the center of the Moon. In the 1970s, the US Defense Mapping Agency used 1,730,000 meters. The Clementine topographic data published in the 1990s uses 1,737,400 meters.

This list is not comprehensive, and does not list the highest places on the Moon. Clementine data show a range of about 18,100 meters from lowest to highest point on the Moon. The highest point, located on the far side of the Moon, is approximately 6500 meters higher than Mons Huygens (usually listed as the tallest mountain).

Mountains are referred to using the Latin word mons (plural montes).

The Moon's surface exhibits many other geological features. In addition to mountains, valleys, and impact craters, the following surface features have received names in the Lunar nomenclature, many of them named after a nearby crater or mountain.

The listed diameter for these features is the longest dimension that contains the entire geological formation. The latitudes and longitudes are in selenographic coordinates.

• Lunar craters
• Topography of the Moon
• List of mountain ranges
• List of mountains on the Moon by height
• List of named features on the Far Side of the Moon

These were used for references in the Water Features section.

• Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature (PDF). NASA RP-1097. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), no ISBN.
• Ben Bussey and Paul Spudis, The Clementine Atlas of the Moon, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-81528-2.
• Antonín Rükl, Atlas of the Moon, Kalmbach Books, 1990, ISBN 0-913135-17-8.
• Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-62248-4.

The following sources were used as references on the individual crater pages.

• Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature (PDF). NASA RP-1097. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-06.
• Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
• Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81528-2.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN 0-936389-27-3.
• McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
• Menzel, Donald H. (February 1971). "Final Report on NGR 22-007-194, Lunar Nomenclature" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
• Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by The Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763.
• Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN 0-304-35469-4.
• Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon observer's handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33500-0.
• Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 0-913135-17-8.
• Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revision ed.). Dover. ISBN 0-486-20917-2.
• Whitaker, Ewen A. (2003). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54414-6.
• Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN 1-85233-193-3.

• NASA lunar Atlas
• IAU, USGS: Moon nomenclature
• IAU, USGS: Moon nomenclature: mountains
• Astronomica Langrenus — Italian Lunar Web Site
• Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
• Lunar Atlases at the Lunar & Planetary Institute
  • Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon
• Lunar Nomenclature
• Lunar Photo of the Day by Charles A. Wood et al.