Its great size makes it visible to the unaided eye as a prominent notch in the terminator about one to two days after the Moon reaches first quarter.

The most notable of these is a curving chain of craters that begins with Rutherfurd in the south then arcs across the floor in a counterclockwise direction forming a sequence of ever diminishing diameters.

[2] The water could be trapped into tiny beadlike structures in the soil that form out of the high heat created by micrometeorite impacts.

Notable nearby craters include Scheiner to the west; Blancanus to the southwest; Maginus in the northeast, and Longomontanus to the northwest.

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Clavius.