Impact crater

An Impact crater is the name for a crater, or pit, carved in the surface of a body, by a fast moving object.

The term is widely used for craters left by the impact of astronomical bodies, like comets, asteroids, or meteors, but could also be applied to craters left by the rocks thrown from exploding volcanoes.

Earth's Moon, and other rocky bodies in the Solar System, are peppered with impact craters, while on other bodies, like Europa, Pluto, and the Earth itself, impact craters are gradually erased by volcanism and other processes that remake the bodies' surface.`