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List of largest craters in the Solar System

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Summary

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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).

BodyCraterCrater diameterBody diameterRatioImagesNotes
MercuryCaloris15504,880 km32%[[File:The Mighty Caloris (PIA19213).png100px]]
Rembrandt71515%[[File:Rembrandt crater mosaic.jpg100px]]
VenusMead28012,100 km2%[[File:Mead crater (PIA00148).pngcenterframeless100x100px]]
EarthVredefort250–300 km (160–190 mi)12,740 km2%[[File:Vredefort Dome STS51I-33-56AA.jpg100px]]
Chicxulub crater1821.4%[[File:Yucatan chix crater.jpg100px]]Cause or contributor of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
Sudbury Basin1301%[[File:Sudbury Wanapitei WorldWind.jpg100px]]
Moon
(moon of Earth)Procellarum30003,470 km86%[[File:PIA18822-LunarGrailMission-OceanusProcellarum-Rifts-Overall-20141001.jpg100px]]Not confirmed as an impact basin.
South Pole–Aitken basin250070%[[File:Aitken Kagu big.jpg100px]]
Imbrium114533%[[File:Imbrium location.jpg100px]]
MarsNorth Polar Basin10,600 × 8,500 km (6,550 × 5,250 mi)6,780 km125–155%[[File:MarsTopoMap-PIA02031 modest.jpg100px]]Not confirmed as an impact basin
Utopia330050%[[File:Mars northern hemisphere topo.jpg100px]]Largest confirmed impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System
Hellas230034%[[File:Hellas Planitia by the Viking orbiters.jpg100px]]Largest visible crater in the Solar System
Isidis~ 190028%[[File:Syrtis-Isidis_zoom_64_pano.jpg100px]]Heavily degraded to the northeast
Argyre170025.1%[[File:Argyre_MOLA_zoom_64.jpg100px]]May have an outer ring 2750 km in diameter
Vesta (asteroid)Rheasilvia505529 km (569 km)90%[[File:A False-Color Topography of Vesta's South Pole.jpg100px]]
Veneneia39570%[[File:Rheasilvia and Veneneia.jpg100px]]Partially obscured by Rheasilvia
(dwarf planet)Kerwan284952 km30%[[File:PIA19596-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-2ndMappingOrbit-image28-20150625.jpg100px]]Faint shallow crater, below the center of this image.
Yalode27128%[[File:Urvara and Yalode craters.jpg100px]]
Hygiea (asteroid)Serpens434 ± 14 km40%[[File:Hygiea_VLT_Serpens_Calix_craters.png100px]]
Ganymede
(moon of Jupiter)Epigeus3435,270 km6.5%[[File:Crater Epigeus on Ganimede.jpg100px]]
Callisto
(moon of Jupiter)Valhalla3604,820 km7.5%[[File:Valhalla crater on Callisto.jpg100px]]
Heimdall2104%(no good images have been taken)
Mimas
(moon of Saturn)Herschel139396 km35%[[File:Mimas moon.jpg100px]]
Tethys
(moon of Saturn)Odysseus4451,060 km42%[[File:Tethys N00151608 sharp.jpg100px]]
Dione
(moon of Saturn)Evander3501,123 km34%[[File:Evander crater, Dione.jpg100px]]
Rhea
(moon of Saturn)Mamaldi4801,530 km31%[[File:PIA07763 Rhea full globe5.jpg100px]]
Tirawa36024%[[File:PIA09819 Tirawa basin.jpg100px]]
Titan
(moon of Saturn)Menrva3925,150 km7.5%[[File:Titancrater.jpg100px]]
Iapetus
(moon of Saturn)Turgis5801,470 km40%[[File:A Moon with Two Dark Sides.jpg100px]]
Engelier50434%[[File:Iapetus as seen by the Cassini probe - 20071008.jpg100px]]
Gerin44530%[[File:Iapetus Roncevaux.jpg100px]]Gerin is overlain by Engelier
Falsaron42429%[[File:Iapetusnorth.jpg100px]]
Titania
(moon of Uranus)Gertrude3261,580 km21%[[File:PIA00039 Titania.jpg100px]]Little of Titania has been imaged, so it may well have larger craters.
Pluto (dwarf planet)Sputnik Planitia basinca. 1,400 × 1,200 km
average: ~1,300 km2,377 km54.7%[[File:PIA19936_-_Sputnik_Planum_region_on_Pluto.jpg100px]]Partially infilled by convecting Nitrogen ice, heavily eroded
Burney29612.5%[[File:Burney_Basin_Pluto.png100px]]Heavily degraded, difficult to see
Charon
(moon of Pluto)Dorothyca. 2611,207 km21%[[File:Charon_in_True_Color_-_High-Res.jpg100px]]Crater at upper right overlapping Mordor Macula

References

References

  1. 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.
  2. [https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/SearchResults?target=CERES&featureType=Crater,%20craters Planetary Names: Search Results]
  3. [https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14353?__fsk=-1014050833 USGS]
  4. [https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14751?__fsk=-1561211533 USGS]
  5. (December 2021). "Tectonism and Enhanced Cryovolcanic Potential Around a Loaded Sputnik Planitia Basin, Pluto". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
  6. (August 2002). "Topography and morphology of the Argyre Basin, Mars: implications for its geologic and hydrologic history". Planetary and Space Science.
  7. (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.
  8. (1989-03-10). "Buried topography of Utopia, Mars: Persistence of a giant impact depression". Journal of Geophysical Research.
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