Chang Heng (crater)
lunar impact crater

Chang Heng is a degraded lunar impact crater that is located on the Moon's far side. It lies less than one crater diameter to the northeast of the walled plain Fleming. The rim of Chang Heng is eroded, with a pair of small craters along the northern rim and tiny craters along the south and east edges. The interior floor contains a small, concentric crater that is about one third the diameter of Chang Heng.
The crater is named after Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng (78–139). This designation was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1970.
Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Chang Heng.
The public source identifies “Chang Heng (crater)” as lunar impact crater. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chang, Heng and crater.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2252374. Authority coordinates are 18.900, 112.210. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chang Heng (crater)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.