The Schiller-Zucchius Basin is a

Pre-Nectarian The pre-Nectarian period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 4.533 billion years ago (the time of the initial formation of the Moon) to 3.920 billion years ago, when the Nectaris Basin was formed by a large impact. It is followed by the Necta ...

impact basin An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...

on the near side of the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. It is named after the elongated crater

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

at the northeast margin and fresh crater Zucchius near the southwest margin. This basin has received the unofficial designation 'Schiller Annular Plain' among lunar observers. The basin has a clear but eroded outer rim and a partial inner ring. It is thus an example of a peak ring basin. Also at the center is a mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high. The mascon was first identified by Doppler tracking of the

Lunar Prospector ''Lunar Prospector'' was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, ...

spacecraft. The existence of the basin was confirmed by the

GRAIL The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

spacecraft. Other craters within the basin include Segner and

Weigel Weigel is a German surname. Notable people with this name include: * Beverly Weigel (born 1940), New Zealand Olympic athlete *Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, German scientist *Christoph Weigel the Elder (1654–1725), German engraver, art dealer and p ...

, as well as many satellite craters. Due south of the basin is Bettinus, to the northwest of the basin are

Phocylides Phocylides ( el, Φωκυλίδης ὁ Μιλήσιος), Greek gnomic poet of Miletus, contemporary of Theognis of Megara, was born about 560 BC. A few fragments of his " maxims" have survived (chiefly in the ''Florilegium'' of Stobaeus), in ...

and Nasmyth, to the north is Nöggerath, and to the east is

Rost Rost may refer to: People: * Andrea Rost (born 1962), Hungarian lyric soprano *Burkhard Rost (born 1961), German scientist - computational biologists * Christina Rost (born 1952), German former women's team handball player * Clarence Rost (born 19 ...

. File:Schiller-Zucchius basin topo.jpg, Topographic map File:Schiller-Zucchius basin GRAIL gravity.jpg, Gravity map based on

File:Cuenca de Schiller-Zucchius.jpeg, Earth-based image showing the basin with labeled features

References

{{reflist Pre-Nectarian