List of largest craters in the Solar System
(Redirected from Larger craters in the Solar System)
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Following are the largest impact craters on various worlds of the Solar System. For a full list of named craters, see List of craters in the Solar System. The ratio column compares the crater diameter with the diameter of the impacted celestial body. The maximum crater diameter is 157% of the body diameter (the circumference along a great circle).
| Body | Crater | Crater diameter | Body diameter | Ratio | Images | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Caloris | 1,550 km (963 mi) | 4,880 km | 32% | File:The Mighty Caloris (PIA19213).png | |
| Rembrandt | 715 km (444 mi) | 15% | File:Rembrandt crater mosaic.jpg | |||
| Venus | Mead | 280 km (170 mi) | 12,100 km | 2% | ||
| Earth | Vredefort | 250–300 km (160–190 mi) | 12,740 km | 2% | File:Vredefort Dome STS51I-33-56AA.jpg | |
| Chicxulub crater | 182 km (113 mi) | 1.4% | File:Yucatan chix crater.jpg | Cause or contributor of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event | ||
| Sudbury Basin | 130 km (80 mi) | 1% | File:Sudbury Wanapitei WorldWind.jpg | |||
| Moon (moon of Earth) |
Procellarum | 3,000 km (2,000 mi) | 3,470 km | 86% | File:PIA18822-LunarGrailMission-OceanusProcellarum-Rifts-Overall-20141001.jpg | Not confirmed as an impact basin. |
| South Pole–Aitken basin | 2,500 km (1,600 mi) | 70% | File:Aitken Kagu big.jpg | |||
| Imbrium | 1,145 km (711 mi) | 33% | File:Imbrium location.jpg | |||
| Mars | North Polar Basin | 10,600 × 8,500 km (6,550 × 5,250 mi) | 6,780 km | 125–155% | File:MarsTopoMap-PIA02031 modest.jpg | Not confirmed as an impact basin |
| Utopia | 3,300 km (2,100 mi)[1] | 50% | File:Mars northern hemisphere topo.jpg | Largest confirmed impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System | ||
| Hellas | 2,300 km (1,400 mi) | 34% | File:Hellas Planitia by the Viking orbiters.jpg | Largest visible crater in the Solar System | ||
| Isidis | ~1,900 km (1,200 mi)[2] | 28% | File:Syrtis-Isidis zoom 64 pano.jpg | Heavily degraded to the northeast | ||
| Argyre | 1,700 km (1,100 mi)[3] | 25.1% | File:Argyre MOLA zoom 64.jpg | May have an outer ring 2750 km in diameter[3] | ||
| Vesta (asteroid) | Rheasilvia | 505 km (310 mi) | 529 km (569 km)[4] | 90%[4] | File:A False-Color Topography of Vesta's South Pole.jpg | |
| Veneneia | 395 km (250 mi) | 70%[4] | Error creating thumbnail: File missing | Partially obscured by Rheasilvia | ||
| Ceres (dwarf planet) | Kerwan | 284 km (180 mi)[5] | 952 km | 30% | File:PIA19596-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-2ndMappingOrbit-image28-20150625.jpg | Faint shallow crater, below the center of this image. |
| Yalode | 271 km (170 mi)[5] | 28% | File:Urvara and Yalode craters.jpg | |||
| Hygiea (asteroid) | Serpens | 180±15 | 434 ± 14 km | 40% | File:Hygiea VLT Serpens Calix craters.png | |
| Ganymede (moon of Jupiter) |
Epigeus | 343 km (213 mi) | 5,270 km | 6.5% | File:Crater Epigeus on Ganimede.jpg | |
| Callisto (moon of Jupiter) |
Valhalla | 360 km (224 mi) | 4,820 km | 7.5% | File:Valhalla crater on Callisto.jpg | |
| Heimdall | 210 km (130 mi) | 4% | (no good images have been taken) | |||
| Mimas (moon of Saturn) |
Herschel | 139 km (86 mi) | 396 km | 35% | File:Mimas moon.jpg | |
| Tethys (moon of Saturn) |
Odysseus | 445 km (277 mi) | 1,060 km | 42% | File:Tethys N00151608 sharp.jpg | |
| Dione (moon of Saturn) |
Evander | 350 km (220 mi)[6] | 1,123 km | 34% | File:Evander crater, Dione.jpg | |
| Rhea (moon of Saturn) |
Mamaldi | 480 km (300 mi)[7] | 1,530 km | 31% | File:PIA07763 Rhea full globe5.jpg | |
| Tirawa | 360 km (220 mi) | 24% | File:PIA09819 Tirawa basin.jpg | |||
| Titan (moon of Saturn) |
Menrva | 392 km (244 mi) | 5,150 km | 7.5% | File:Titancrater.jpg | |
| Iapetus (moon of Saturn) |
Turgis | 580 km (360 mi) | 1,470 km | 40% | File:A Moon with Two Dark Sides.jpg | |
| Engelier | 504 km (313 mi) | 34% | File:Iapetus as seen by the Cassini probe - 20071008.jpg | |||
| Gerin | 445 km (277 mi) | 30% | File:Iapetus Roncevaux.jpg | Gerin is overlain by Engelier | ||
| Falsaron | 424 km (263 mi) | 29% | File:Iapetusnorth.jpg | |||
| Titania (moon of Uranus) |
Gertrude | 326 km (203 mi) | 1,580 km | 21% | File:PIA00039 Titania.jpg | Little of Titania has been imaged, so it may well have larger craters. |
| Pluto (dwarf planet) | Sputnik Planitia basin | ca. 1,400 × 1,200 km[8] average: ~1,300 km |
2,377 km | 54.7% | File:PIA19936 - Sputnik Planum region on Pluto.jpg | Partially infilled by convecting Nitrogen ice, heavily eroded |
| Burney | 296 km (184 mi) | 12.5% | File:Burney Basin Pluto.png | Heavily degraded, difficult to see | ||
| Charon (moon of Pluto) |
Dorothy | ca. 261 km (162 mi) | 1,207 km | 21% | File:Charon in True Color - High-Res.jpg | Crater at upper right overlapping Mordor Macula |
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See also
[edit | edit source]References
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Rheasilvia and Veneneia are 95% and 75% of the mean diameter of Vesta, 529 km. However, the mean is affected by the craters themselves. They are 89% and 69% the mean equatorial diameter of 569 km.
- ^ a b Planetary Names: Search Results
- ^ USGS
- ^ USGS
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).