Moon Mappers Crater Decay

For nearly 2 years, volunteers from around the globe have been helping scientists map craters on the Moon. With more than a million marked, it's time to get down and sort through these markings to find the most interesting small craters on the Moon. With this app, you can help search out the most interesting craters and help facilitate research!

With the MoonMappers Crater Decay app, you'll help CosmoQuest team scientists sort craters according to how much they've decayed over time. Newer craters on the Moon are crisp edged and stunning. Old craters … even on the weather-less Moon, old features get rounded down over time as they get pelted with micrometeorites and shaken up by large impacts nearby. Researchers need catalogs of specific types craters to answer different kind of questions, and every crater you classify helps them understand a little bit more about our Moon.

With Version 1.0 of this software, you can match newly mapped craters to one of 4 different states, ranging from “It’s perfect!” for sharp edged young craters to “That’s a crater?” for rounded dents in the moon that may mark some of the oldest impact sites. We’re going to have 15 different people look at every crater, and use the range of responses to make our final catalog of craters.

To participate and have your results count, you’ll need to register at CosmoQuest.org. We’ll contact you about discoveries you've helped our team of scientists accomplish, and you’ll get credit for all your efforts when results are published.

Download the MoonMappers Crater Decay App and start exploring the Moon today!