Alex McColgan

Did the newer crater just so happen to cover an older one?

But let's zoom out again, what other clues can we see?

Actually, a big clue are these lines coming away from the crater.

These are called rays, and they reveal the direction the debris fell after the impact.

On rounded craters, debris can go in all directions, like the ones that originate from Tycho crater.

However here, debris goes in three distinct directions, north and southward from this crater, and only westward from this one.

So, what would cause that?

Well, the answer is, an impactor striking the surface at a very low angle, less than 15 degrees.

And in this particular case, it seems like the impactor had already broken apart into three parts before it even hit the moon's surface.

Yes, all three of these craters likely hit the moon at just about the same time, even the older crater.

What actually happened here is that ejecta from this second crater likely fell directly on top of the other crater due to the low angle of the impact, which means that it has been artificially aged.

There are some other really interesting aspects of this image though, like the solidified pond of impact melt found at the bottom of the crater, or this region here which appears to have caved in a bit.

The impact melt in the first image also appears to have flowed down towards the left of the image.

It really is a fascinating set of craters.

Let's have a look at another asymmetrical crater and try to figure out why it has the shape it does.

While it could be that this crater is also the result of two impacts, or one impactor breaking up into two just before it collided with the Moon, scientists think that this is likely not the case here.

Notice the shadows in this image, above and below the crater.

It is apparent that this crater is right on the cusp of a peak.

Zooming out and looking at the topographical map of the region reveals that this is the case.

In fact, this may well have been the tallest peak in the local area, until by chance this impactor came along and totally wiped it out.