Picard (crater)
Apollo 17 Mapping camera image | |
| Coordinates | 14°34′N 54°43′E / 14.57°N 54.72°E |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 22.35 km (13.89 mi) |
| Depth | 2.4 km |
| Colongitude | 306° at sunrise |
| Eponym | Jean-Félix Picard |
Picard is a lunar impact crater that lies in Mare Crisium. The crater is named for 17th century French astronomer and geodesist Jean Picard. It is the biggest non-flooded crater of this mare, being slightly larger than Peirce to the north-northwest. To the west is the almost completely flooded crater Yerkes. To east of Picard is the tiny Curtis.
Picard is a crater from the Eratosthenian period, which lasted from 3.2 to 1.1 billion years ago. Inside Picard is a series of terraces that seismologists have attributed to a collapse of the crater floor. It has a cluster of low hills at the bottom.