Smithson is a small lunar 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...

 located in the northeast part of Mare Fecunditatis

Mare Fecunditatis

Mare Fecunditatis is a lunar mare which is 840 km in diameter. The Fecuditatis basin formed in the Pre-Nectarian epoch, while the basin material surrounding the mare is of the...

. It is a circular, cup-shaped feature with a slightly higher albedo

Albedo

Albedo , or reflection coefficient, is the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface. It is defined as the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it...

 than the surrounding, dark lunar mare

Lunar mare

The 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...

. It was previously identified as Taruntius N before being renamed by the IAU

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

. Taruntius

Taruntius (crater)

Taruntius is a lunar crater on the northwestern edge of Mare Fecunditatis. To the northwest is the lava-flooded crater Lawrence, and to the north lie the craters Watts and da Vinci...

itself lies to the west-northwest, in the northwestern part of the same mare.