Earthlight (crater)

Earthlight is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater located in the southwestern part of Mare Imbrium. It lies approximately 20 kilometers to the south of the prominent crater Euler, and north-northwest of the slightly larger crater Diophantus.

Earthlight is a relatively young crater, likely Copernican in age, indicated by its sharp, well-defined rim and the absence of significant degradation from space weathering. It has a high albedo compared to the surrounding mare surface, suggesting that the lunar regolith exposed by the impact event has not been darkened by long-term exposure to the solar wind.

The crater's interior slopes are smooth and lead down to a small, flat floor. There is no central peak within the crater. Due to its small size (approximately 6 kilometers in diameter), Earthlight can only be observed with moderate to high-powered telescopes. Its primary scientific interest lies in its age and the composition of the ejecta blanket surrounding the crater, which can provide insights into the subsurface materials of Mare Imbrium.