Dawson is a lunar

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 impact crater

Impact crater

In 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 on the southern hemisphere

Sphere

A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...

 on the far side of the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

. It lies across a crater triplet: the southeast rim is intruding into the crater Alekhin

Alekhin (crater)

Alekhin is a lunar crater that is located on the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the north of the crater Zeeman, and south-southeast of Fizeau. To the west lies Crommelin, and east-southeast is Doerfel....

; the northwest rim also intrudes into the larger satellite crater Dawson V, and the northeast rim is attached to the comparably sized Dawson D. To the south of this formation is the large crater Zeeman

Zeeman (crater)

Zeeman is a lunar impact crater located on the far side of the Moon near its south pole. It is not directly visible from the Earth. To the northwest of Zeeman lies the crater Numerov. Southeast of the rim is the crater Ashbrook....

. West of Dawson is the crater Crommelin

Crommelin (lunar crater)

Crommelin is an ancient lunar crater that is located in the vicinity of the south pole of the Moon, on the far side. It lies to the north of the large crater Zeeman, and to the east-northeast of Numerov....

, and to the north lies Fizeau

Fizeau (crater)

Fizeau is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, in the southern hemisphere. Nearby craters of note include Minkowski to the west-northwest, and Eijkman to the southwest....

.

Dawson is a relatively young formation that lies in the midst of a field of ancient, heavily eroded craters. The outer rim is nearly circular, but slightly distorted due to the craters it overlaps. The western rim is slightly flattened where it overlaps Dawson V. The crater formation shows little appearance of wear, with only a small craterlet across the northwest rim and another inside the northeast rim. The interior is irregular with some slight terraces along parts of the inner wall.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Dawson.

Dawson	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
D	66.6° S	131.7° W	39 km
V	66.6° S	137.0° W	58 km