Stadius is a ghostly remnant

Palimpsest

A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...

 of an ancient 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...

 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 has been nearly obliterated by basalt

Basalt

Basalt 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...

ic lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. 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...

 flows. It lies to the southwest of the much younger crater Eratosthenes

Eratosthenes (crater)

Eratosthenes is a relatively deep lunar impact crater that lies on the boundary between the Mare Imbrium and Sinus Aestuum mare regions. It forms the western terminus of the Montes Apenninus mountain range. The crater has a well-defined circular rim, terraced inner wall, central mountain peaks, an...

, at the north edge of Mare Insularum

Mare Insularum

Mare Insularum is a lunar mare located in the Insularum basin just south of Mare Imbrium. The basin material is of the Lower Imbrian epoch, with the mare material of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The mare is bordered by the craters Copernicus on the east, and Kepler on the west...

 where the 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...

 joins Sinus Aestuum

Sinus Aestuum

Sinus Aestuum forms a northeastern extension to Mare Insularum. It has selenographic coordinates 10.9° N, 8.8° W, and it lies within a diameter of 290 km....

. To the west is the prominent ray crater Copernicus

Copernicus (lunar crater)

Copernicus is a prominent lunar impact crater named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum. It is estimated to be about 800 million years old, and typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system.-...

, and multiple secondary craters from the Copernican ejecta cover this area. To the northwest is a chain of craters that continue in a roughly linear formation until reaching Mare Imbrium

Mare Imbrium

Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...

.

Only the northwestern rim of Stadius remains nearly intact, and it joins with a north-running ridge line that reaches the western rampart of Eratosthenes. The remainder of the formation forms a ghostly trace of the original rim, created from a few rises in the surface, and there is no indication of a central peak. The flat crater floor is pock-marked by craterlets, many of which were generated by secondary impacts from the creation of Copernicus

Copernicus (lunar crater)

Copernicus is a prominent lunar impact crater named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum. It is estimated to be about 800 million years old, and typifies craters that formed during the Copernican period in that it has a prominent ray system.-...

.

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 Stadius.

Stadius	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	10.4° N	14.8° W	5 km
B	11.8° N	13.6° W	6 km
C	9.7° N	12.8° W	3 km
D	10.3° N	15.3° W	4 km
E	12.6° N	15.6° W	5 km
F	13.0° N	15.7° W	5 km
G	11.2° N	14.8° W	5 km
H	11.6° N	13.9° W	4 km
J	13.8° N	16.1° W	4 km
K	9.7° N	13.6° W	4 km
L	10.1° N	12.9° W	3 km
M	14.7° N	16.5° W	7 km
N	9.4° N	15.7° W	5 km
P	11.8° N	15.2° W	6 km
Q	11.5° N	14.8° W	4 km
R	12.2° N	15.2° W	6 km
S	12.9° N	15.5° W	5 km
T	13.2° N	15.7° W	7 km
U	13.9° N	16.4° W	5 km
W	14.1° N	16.4° W	5 km