Hubble is a
lunarThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
craterIn the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
that lies very near the east-northeastern limb of the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
. At this location it is viewed almost from the side from
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
, and the visibility of this feature is affected by
librationIn astronomy libration refers to the various orbital conditions which make it possible to see more than 50% of the moon's surface over time, even though the front of the Moon is tidally locked to always face towards Earth...
. It lies to the north of the
Mare MarginisMare Marginis is a lunar mare that lies on the very edge of the lunar nearside. The selenographic coordinates of this feature are 13.3° N, 86.1° E, and the diameter is 420 km. The name is Latin for "Sea of the Edge"....
and northeast of the crater
CannonCannon is a lunar crater that is located near the east-northeastern limb of the Moon's near side. It lies just to the northwest of the Mare Marginis, and south-southeast of the crater Plutarch. Farther to the east-northeast is Hubble....
. About one crater diameter to the north-northeast is
LyapunovLyapunov is a lunar crater named for Aleksandr Lyapunov that is located along the east-northeastern limb of the Moon, and is viewed from the side by observers on Earth...
.
The rim of this crater is worn and eroded, and it has a somewhat irregular edge in places.
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Hubble is a
lunarThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
craterIn the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
that lies very near the east-northeastern limb of the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
. At this location it is viewed almost from the side from
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
, and the visibility of this feature is affected by
librationIn astronomy libration refers to the various orbital conditions which make it possible to see more than 50% of the moon's surface over time, even though the front of the Moon is tidally locked to always face towards Earth...
. It lies to the north of the
Mare MarginisMare Marginis is a lunar mare that lies on the very edge of the lunar nearside. The selenographic coordinates of this feature are 13.3° N, 86.1° E, and the diameter is 420 km. The name is Latin for "Sea of the Edge"....
and northeast of the crater
CannonCannon is a lunar crater that is located near the east-northeastern limb of the Moon's near side. It lies just to the northwest of the Mare Marginis, and south-southeast of the crater Plutarch. Farther to the east-northeast is Hubble....
. About one crater diameter to the north-northeast is
LyapunovLyapunov is a lunar crater named for Aleksandr Lyapunov that is located along the east-northeastern limb of the Moon, and is viewed from the side by observers on Earth...
.
The rim of this crater is worn and eroded, and it has a somewhat irregular edge in places. The inner wall is wider along the western side, where the rim has a slight outward bulge. The most intact portion of the rim lies along the eastern side, and the inner wall of this face is visible from the Earth.
The interior floor has been resurfaced by
basaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey.On Earth, most...
ic
lavaLava is molten rock expelled by a volcano during eruption. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at temperatures from 700 °C to 1,200 °C...
, giving it a lower
albedoThe albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from light sources such as the Sun. It is therefore a more specific form of the term reflectivity. Albedo is defined as the ratio of diffusely reflected to incident electromagnetic radiation. It is a unitless measure...
than the surrounding terrain. It is, however, not quite as dark as the
lunar mareThe lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They were dubbed maria, Latin for "seas", by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich compositions, and...
to the south. This surface is relatively level and featureless, with only a few tiny craterlets. It lacks a central peak, but a pair of small craterlets lies near the mid-point.