What are lunar microcraters found on Apollo rocks?

Impact craters range in size from microscopic depressions observed on lunar rocks returned by the Apollo Program up to vast multi-ringed basins. These microcraters are formed by the hypervelocity impact of smaller objects like micrometeoroids and interplanetary dust particles. Studying space dust and these tiny impact marks offers insights into the Solar System.

What we know

• Impact craters range in size from microscopic craters seen on lunar rocks returned by the Apollo Program to simple bowl-shaped depressions and vast impact basins. [4]
• An impact crater is a depression formed in the surface of a solid astronomical body by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. [4]
• Space dust measurement studies small extraterrestrial particles like micrometeoroids and interplanetary dust particles that are typically micrometer to sub-millimeter in size. [2]

Where to go next

• how it workedHow do micrometeoroids impact planetary surfaces?
• the bigger pictureWhat is dust astronomy?
• a case in pointMeteor Crater
• compared withHow does Earth's atmosphere protect it from microcraters?
• how we knowWhat techniques analyze space dust composition?
• an unexpected connectionHow do tiny space dust particles carry historical data?Just like photons, individual cosmic dust particles carry raw information from remote sites in space and time regarding their distant environments.

Sources

• [1]Space dust measurement (Wikidata Q113468919) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Space dust measurement · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Crater · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Impact crater · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Dust astronomy · CC BY-SA 4.0