Appleton is a heavily eroded lunar

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 that lies in the northern hemisphere

Sphere

A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...

 on the far side of the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

. To the northwest are the craters Von Neumann

Von Neumann (crater)

Von Neumann is a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, in the northern hemisphere. It is nearly attached to the south-southeastern rim of the walled plain Campbell. The crater Ley is attached to the northeastern rim of Von Neumann, and is somewhat overlain by the outer rampart...

 and Campbel

Campbell (lunar crater)

Campbell is a large lunar crater that is located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the walled plain D'Alembert, an even larger formation. If Campbell were located on the near side of the Moon as seen from the Earth, it would form one of the largest...

. The smaller Golovin

Golovin (crater)

Golovin is a lunar impact crater that is located to the southeast of the walled plain Campbell. It lies in the northern hemisphere on the Moon's far side, and cannot be seen directly from the Earth...

 lies to the northeast, while further to the southwest is the Mare Moscoviense

Mare Moscoviense

Mare Moscoviense is a lunar mare that sits in the Moscoviense basin. It is one of the very few maria on the far side of the Moon. Like Mare Marginis, this mare appears to be fairly thin. However, it is clearly centered within a large impact basin...

.

The crater wall and interior have been heavily eroded by many subsequent impacts, leaving the features rounded and irregular. A pair of craters lie across the southwestern rim, and two small craterlets lie along the eastern rim. The interior floor is irregular and contains many tiny craterlets.

Appleton lies between a pair of satellite craters that are located on opposite sides of the rim, forming a triple formation. Appleton R is located just to the west-southwest, and contains another crater just inside its north rim. On the opposite side of Appleton is Appleton D, a comparably sized formation to Appleton R.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Appleton.

Appleton	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
D	38.0° N	160.6° E	37 km
M	33.9° N	158.3° E	21 km
Q	34.3° N	155.3° E	26 km
R	36.2° N	156.2° E	39 km