GALLERY
Pre-Lunar Cataclysm View of the Solar System
After planets accreted 4.5 billion years ago, remnants of that process persisted within the terrestrial planet region and in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally, some of those rocky remnants hit the Earth, Moon, and other planetary surfaces, producing impact craters and, less often, immense impact basins. The oldest and largest impact basin on the Moon, called the South Pole-Aitken Basin, was produced during that epoch of solar system history. The age of the South Pole-Aitken Basin is, however, still a mystery and is one of the scientific targets for future lunar exploration. Image Credit: LPI\SwRI\CNRS