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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Both the Moon and Earth have been struck by space rocks. The Moon’s craters are easier to see because it has almost no atmosphere, no wind or liquid-water weathering, and little geological recycling. Earth’s atmosphere filters many incoming objects, while erosion, vegetation, tectonics, and volcanism wear down or bury the craters that do form. The Moon preserves more of its impact history, but its surface is not unchanging.
Why does the Moon have so many visible craters?
The Moon has a very tenuous exosphere rather than a substantial atmosphere. Incoming objects therefore have little atmospheric filtering before reaching the surface. On Earth, many meteoroids heat up, break apart, or slow in the atmosphere before they can make a crater.
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After an impact, the two worlds also preserve the evidence differently. The Moon has no wind or liquid-water weathering and no Earth-like plate tectonics recycling its crust. Later impacts and solar effects still alter lunar terrain, but many features can remain recognizable for extremely long periods. NASA Earth Observatory calls lunar craters “virtually permanent”; that means far better preserved than on Earth, not immune to change (NASA Earth Observatory, “Fresh Craters on the Moon and Earth,” August 13, 2009; NASA Science, “Earth’s Moon”).
Earth’s surface is continually reshaped. Wind and water erode landforms, vegetation can obscure them, volcanic flows can cover them, and tectonic processes create, move, and recycle crust. NASA Space Place summarizes the contrast: “The main difference between the two is that Earth has processes that can erase almost all evidence of past impacts” (NASA Space Place, “Why Does the Moon Have Craters?” last updated April 23, 2020).
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How does an impact crater form?
A crater begins when a fast-moving object hits solid ground. The impact compresses, pulverizes, and may vaporize rock. The ground rebounds, ejecting material and sending shockwaves outward; some rock can melt. NASA describes two broad stages: excavation, which makes the initial cavity, and modification, when shockwaves deform and collapse the ground (NASA Science, “Moon Craters”).
Crater shape is not determined by the world alone. Impactor size, density, speed, and angle, as well as the target’s geology, all affect the resulting crater and ejecta. Smaller lunar craters can retain deep bowl shapes. Larger ones tend to be shallow relative to their width because the ground deforms and collapses after impact. In the very largest events, collapse and faulting can replace the original crater form with a broad basin; some basins have multiple rings, whose formation remains under study.
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What counts as a lunar impact basin?
NASA defines lunar impact basins as features more than 186 miles (300 km) in diameter. NASA Science reports more than 40 such basins, not more than 40 lunar craters in total. The largest named basin is South Pole–Aitken, which NASA says is thought to be four times larger than its initial excavation (NASA Science, “Moon Craters”).
Where did Earth’s craters go?
They did not all disappear, and Earth does have recognized impact craters. NASA Space Place gave a figure of about 180 known impact craters in 2020. That is an approximate count of recognized features, not a count of every impact in Earth’s history or a live catalog total (NASA Space Place, “Why Does the Moon Have Craters?”).
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Two examples show how differently terrestrial craters can survive:
- Meteor Crater, Arizona: NASA Earth Observatory dates the impact to about 50,000 years ago and describes an iron-nickel asteroid about 46 m (150 ft) across. The initial crater was over 1,200 m (4,000 ft) across and 210 m (700 ft) deep. Erosion has partly filled it; the page gives its present depth as about 150 m (550 ft). Its arid setting helps explain why it remains unusually well preserved on Earth (NASA Earth Observatory, “Fresh Craters on the Moon and Earth”).
- Vredefort, South Africa: NASA Space Place describes this ancient impact structure as almost 200 miles across and over 2 billion years old. Erosion has made it difficult to see (NASA Space Place, “Why Does the Moon Have Craters?”).
Can crater counts tell us which world is hit more often?
Not by themselves. The roughly 180 recognized Earth impact craters and the more than 40 lunar basins are different kinds of counts: the lunar figure covers only especially large features, while the Earth figure is an approximate count of known impact craters. Atmospheric filtering and the different rates at which each world preserves evidence further complicate comparison. These figures do not provide a matched inventory or a direct comparison of impact rates.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The key difference is preservation, not the existence of impacts
Both worlds bear impact scars, and the same basic impact physics shapes them. Earth’s atmosphere prevents some objects from reaching the ground, and its active surface processes hide or destroy much of the evidence. The Moon’s quieter surface retains a denser, more visible record, even as new impacts and solar effects continue to modify it.
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