$149
On the dark basalt seas. The easiest ground to find from your own backyard.
How it works
How to name a crater on the Moon
Somewhere up there is a crater that has waited four billion years for a name. Choose it, give it one that means something, and it comes back to you as a certificate posted from the dark skies of Joshua Tree.
- 01
Open the lunar atlas
Explore an interactive map of the Moon’s near side. Every marker is a real, catalogued crater that has never been given a name by anyone.
- 02
Choose your crater
Filter by lunar sea, highland or heritage ground near the Apollo landing sites. Read its coordinates, diameter and depth before you decide.
- 03
Give it a name
Add the name, the occasion and a short inscription. Watch the certificate compose itself, letter by letter, as you type.
- 04
It arrives in the post
A letterpress certificate and a folded ExplOrbit Moon Map showing exactly where your crater sits, ready to hand over.
Pricing
Four kinds of ground
Price follows how remarkable the terrain is and how easily you can find it in a telescope. Everything else in the box is identical.
$189
The bright, ancient uplands. Rougher country, more dramatic in a telescope.
$249
Large craters that catch the sunrise line and throw kilometres of shadow.
$349
Within sight of an Apollo landing site. Our rarest and most requested ground.
Every dedication includes the certificate, the ExplOrbit Moon Map, viewing notes and free shipping.
In the box
What actually turns up
Certificate of Lunar Dedication
Heavy cotton stock, letterpress feel, your name set large with the crater’s true coordinates, diameter and registry code beneath it.
The ExplOrbit Moon Map
A folded chart of the near side with your crater marked, plus the maria, mountain ranges and all six Apollo landing sites.
Viewing notes
The nights your crater is best placed, what optics you need, and where in the Joshua Tree desert to stand.
A rigid protective mailer
Flat, unbent, ready to frame. Nothing arrives rolled or creased.
Reasons people do this
A gift that does not get returned
Nine out of ten dedications from our Joshua Tree workshop are bought for somebody else. These are the moments they mark.
Birthdays
The gift for the person who genuinely has everything. Nobody has ever had a crater before.
Graduations
A marker for the moment somebody stepped into the rest of their life. Mounted, framed, kept.
Weddings & Anniversaries
Two names on one crater, on ground that will outlast every building on Earth.
New Arrivals
Name a crater the week a child is born and it grows up with them, hanging above the cot.
In Memory
A quiet, permanent place to put a name. Many of our customers say it is the only gift that felt right.
Retirements
Forty years of work deserves more than a card. Give them somewhere to look at night.
Straight answers
Questions worth asking
Including the one everybody wants to ask and most companies avoid.
Is the crater naming official?
Official lunar nomenclature is controlled by the International Astronomical Union, and no company on Earth can sell an IAU name. What we offer is a symbolic dedication: your name is recorded permanently in the Joshua Tree Crater Registry, printed on your certificate, and tied to a real, catalogued, currently unnamed crater. We say this plainly because it matters, and because the gift is wonderful without any pretending.
Are these real craters?
Yes. Every crater in our atlas is a genuine impact feature drawn from published lunar survey data, with its true selenographic coordinates, diameter and depth. We only offer craters that carry no official IAU name, and we permanently retire a crater from the catalogue once it has been dedicated.
Can I actually see my crater?
Most of our craters need a small telescope, and the larger ones in the Terminator tier show up in good binoculars when the sunrise line falls across them. Every certificate ships with viewing notes telling you when your crater is best placed. If you can get yourself to Joshua Tree on a clear night, you will not need much else.
What exactly arrives?
A printed Certificate of Lunar Dedication on heavy cotton stock, and a folded ExplOrbit Moon Map of the near side with your crater marked. Both come in a rigid protective mailer. Orders placed before noon Pacific ship the same working day.
Can two people share a crater?
Absolutely. Plenty of our dedications carry two names, a family name, or a couple and a date. You have up to sixty characters to work with, which is more room than it sounds.
Can I choose a crater for someone and let them name it?
Yes. Leave the name field as a placeholder and note it in the inscription. We will hold the registry entry open for ninety days and issue the final certificate once you send us the name.
Still unsure? Write to us and a human in Joshua Tree will answer.
