Urey (crater)

Urey is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater located on the eastern edge of Mare Imbrium. It lies to the south-southeast of the prominent crater Timocharis and to the west of the smaller crater Landsteiner.

Urey is a relatively young crater, characterized by a sharp, well-defined rim and a bowl-shaped interior. It lacks a central peak. Due to its location on the relatively smooth mare surface, Urey is easily distinguishable from its surroundings.

The crater is named after the American physical chemist and Nobel laureate Harold Urey (1893-1981), known for his discovery of deuterium and his work on the origin of the solar system.

Urey is of interest to lunar geologists due to its pristine state and its location near mare basalts, providing valuable data for understanding lunar chronology and impact processes. Its relatively small size also makes it a useful benchmark for calibrating crater size-frequency distributions, which are used to estimate the ages of lunar surfaces.