It is attached to the eastern rim of the crater Agrippa, in an area that has been resurfaced by old lava flows.

To the southwest is Godin, and to the east lies the small, bowl-shaped Whewell.

The crater was named after German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel.

Smaller gaps exist in the southern rim, and the relatively flat interior surface of the crater is joined by these valley clefts to the lava-covered exterior.

Little of the original rim remains intact, and the formation is now a somewhat circular range of rounded, irregular ridges.