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Named for the ancient Greek mathematician better known simply as 'Euclid', this relatively small crater lies in the southwestern quadrant of the Moon's visible face. It lies in the southern parts of Oceanus Procellarum, the wide grey Ocean of Storms, and most of of the lunar surface around Euclides is flat and featureless apart from clusters of tiny attendant craters. To the east, however, a ridge of highland rises out of the Ocean plain some fifty kilometres from the crater. These are the Riphaean Mountains (or Montes Riphaeus) that separate Oceanus Procellarum from the smaller sea of Mare Cognitum.
Euclides itself is an impact crater just thirteen kilometres in diameter and more than a kilometre deep. Though small by the standards of lunar craters, it is nonetheless remarkably prominent. A pattern of material ejected by the original impact forms bright patterns of short rays extending from the crater, making it stand out sharply against the dark basalt flatlands of the Ocean of Storms.
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