Large bowl-shaped holes in the ground caused by impacts or explosions, or the openings at the top of volcanoes.
From Greek 'kratēr,' originally meaning a large bowl or vessel for mixing wine. The shape of impact holes resembled these wide bowls, so the name transferred to geological formations.
By counting craters on planets and moons, scientists can figure out how old they are—more craters means older surface—so the Moon's face literally tells us the history of bombardment in our solar system!
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