What is South Pole–Aitken basin?
[[Image:Aitken Kagu big.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Topographical map of the South Pole-Aitken basin based on [[SELENE|Kaguya]] data. Red represents high elevation, purple low elevation. The purple and red elliptical rings trace the inner and outer walls of the basin. (The black ring is an old artifact of the image.)]] The '''South Pole–Aitken basin''' is a huge [[impact crater]] on the far side of [[Earth]]'s [[Moon]]. Roughly {{convert|2500|km|mi}} in diameter and {{convert|13|km|mi}} deep, it is one of the largest known impact craters in the [[Solar System]]. It is the largest, oldest and deepest basin on the Moon.<ref name=Petro>{{Citation| last1 = Petro| first1 = Noah E.| last2 = Pieters| first2 = Carle M.| title = Surviving the heavy bombardment: ancient material at the surface of South Pole-Aitken Basin| journal = Journal of Geophysical Research| volume = 109| pages = | date = 2004| url = http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/3110.pdf| doi = 10.1029/2003JE002182| id = | accessdate = 2013-01-11| archive-date = 2017-02-15| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170215001311/http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/3110.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref> The formation of the large lunar basins occurred before 3.8 [[billion]] years ago.<ref name=Petro/> This moon basin was named after two features on opposing sides; the crater [[Aitken (crater)|Aitken]] on the northern end and the southern lunar pole at the other end. == References == {{Reflist}} {{science-stub}} [[Category:Impact craters]] [[Category:Surface features of the Moon]]