List of largest craters in the Solar System

Last updated

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).

BodyCraterCrater diameterBody diameterRatioImagesNotes
Mercury Caloris 4,880 km32% The Mighty Caloris (PIA19213).png
Rembrandt 15% Rembrandt crater mosaic.jpg
Venus Mead 12,100 km2%
Mead crater (PIA00148).png
Earth Vredefort 12,740 km2% Vredefort Dome STS51I-33-56AA.jpg
Chicxulub crater 1.4% Yucatan chix crater.jpg Cause or contributor of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
Sudbury Basin 1% Sudbury Wanapitei WorldWind.jpg
Moon
(moon of Earth)
Procellarum 3,470 km86% PIA18822-LunarGrailMission-OceanusProcellarum-Rifts-Overall-20141001.jpg Not confirmed as an impact basin.
South Pole–Aitken basin 70% Aitken Kagu big.jpg
Imbrium 33% Imbrium location.jpg
Mars North Polar Basin 6,780 km125–155% MarsTopoMap-PIA02031 modest.jpg Not confirmed as an impact basin
Utopia 50% Mars northern hemisphere topo.jpg Largest confirmed impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System
Hellas 34% Hellas Planitia by the Viking orbiters.jpg Largest visible crater in the Solar System
Isidis 28% Syrtis-Isidis zoom 64 pano.jpg Heavily degraded to the northeast
Argyre 25.1% Argyre MOLA zoom 64.jpg May have an outer ring 2750 km in diameter [3]
Vesta (asteroid) Rheasilvia 529 km (569 km) [4] 90% [4] A False-Color Topography of Vesta's South Pole.jpg
Veneneia 70% [4] Rheasilvia and Veneneia.jpg Partially obscured by Rheasilvia
Ceres (dwarf planet) Kerwan 952 km30% PIA19596-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-2ndMappingOrbit-image28-20150625.jpg Faint shallow crater, below the center of this image.
Yalode 28% Urvara and Yalode craters.jpg
Hygiea (asteroid) Serpens 434 ± 14 km40% Hygiea VLT Serpens Calix craters.png
Ganymede
(moon of Jupiter)
Epigeus 5,270 km6.5% Crater Epigeus on Ganimede.jpg
Callisto
(moon of Jupiter)
Valhalla 4,820 km7.5% Valhalla crater on Callisto.jpg
Heimdall 4%(no good images have been taken)
Mimas
(moon of Saturn)
Herschel 396 km35% Mimas moon.jpg
Tethys
(moon of Saturn)
Odysseus 1,060 km42% Tethys N00151608 sharp.jpg
Dione
(moon of Saturn)
Evander 1,123 km34% Evander crater, Dione.jpg
Rhea
(moon of Saturn)
Mamaldi 1,530 km31% PIA07763 Rhea full globe5.jpg
Tirawa 24% PIA09819 Tirawa basin.jpg
Titan
(moon of Saturn)
Menrva 5,150 km7.5% Titancrater.jpg
Iapetus
(moon of Saturn)
Turgis 1,470 km40% A Moon with Two Dark Sides.jpg
Engelier 34% Iapetus as seen by the Cassini probe - 20071008.jpg
Gerin 30% Iapetus Roncevaux.jpg Gerin is overlain by Engelier
Falsaron 29% Iapetusnorth.jpg
Titania
(moon of Uranus)
Gertrude 1,580 km21% PIA00039 Titania.jpg Little of Titania has been imaged, so it may well have larger craters.
Pluto (dwarf planet) Sputnik Planitia basin 2,377 km54.7% PIA19936 - Sputnik Planum region on Pluto.jpg Partially infilled by convecting Nitrogen ice, heavily eroded
Burney 12.5% Burney Basin Pluto.png Heavily degraded, difficult to see
Charon
(moon of Pluto)
Dorothy 1,207 km21% Charon in True Color - High-Res.jpg Crater at upper right overlapping Mordor Macula

See also

References

  1. McGill, G. E. (1989-03-10). "Buried topography of Utopia, Mars: Persistence of a giant impact depression". Journal of Geophysical Research. 94: 2753–2759. Bibcode:1989JGR....94.2753M. doi:10.1029/JB094iB03p02753.
  2. Tornabene, Livio L.; Moersch, Jeffery E.; McSween, Harry Y.; et al. (October 2008). "Surface and crater-exposed lithologic units of the Isidis Basin as mapped by coanalysis of THEMIS and TES derived data products". Journal of Geophysical Research. 113 (E10). Bibcode:2008JGRE..11310001T. doi:10.1029/2007JE002988.
  3. 1 2 Hiesinger, Harald; Head, James W., III (August 2002). "Topography and morphology of the Argyre Basin, Mars: implications for its geologic and hydrologic history". Planetary and Space Science. 50 (10–11): 939–981. Bibcode:2002P&SS...50..939H. doi:10.1016/S0032-0633(02)00054-5.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 3 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.
  5. 1 2 Planetary Names: Search Results
  6. USGS
  7. USGS
  8. McGovern, P. J.; White, O. L.; Schenk, P. M. (December 2021). "Tectonism and Enhanced Cryovolcanic Potential Around a Loaded Sputnik Planitia Basin, Pluto". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 126 (12). Bibcode:2021JGRE..12606964M. doi: 10.1029/2021JE006964 .