Aitken Basin

Overview

• Largest, oldest, and most deepest impact crater on the far side of the Moon.
• Indeed, one of the largest craters in the Solar System
• Aitken Crater is on the north end and the South Pole is on the other end
• Outer rim of the basin can be seen from earth on the Moon’s southern limb as the “Leibniz Mountains”

Cartographic Details

• 53 degrees South 169 degrees West
• Roughly 2500 km in diameter
• Depth ranges between 6.2 and 8.2km

Geologic Details

• Composition of the basin appears to be diffferent from typical highland regions
• Floor of basin has slightly elevated quantities of iron, titantium, and thorium
• Much richer in clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene

Origin

• The meteor impact was likely not a mostly vertical hit as there does not appear to be much deep mantle debris that was excavated by the hit
• Observations suggest about 10km of crustal materials beneath the basin floor
• Meteor might have been a low velocity projectile, possible 200km in diameter) that hit at a low angle and did not dig very deeply into the Moon
• Potential evidence for this may be seen in the high elevations NE of the rim that might represent eject from an oblique hit

Chang’e 4 Mission

Chang’e 4 - Wikipedia

• Chinese lunar space craft and lander that landed in the Aiken Basin in January 2019
• Identified a large mass of material deep within the crater