Naming craters on Mercury
Published on Dec 22, 2008 at 9:03 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under planets.
There are rules for naming things in astronomy. The only body whose names astronomers consider official is the International Astronomical Union (not various private entities who sell star names, particularly at this time of the year). For the planet Mercury, the rules are that the craters are named for people who have made contributions to the arts and humanities. So, there are craters named for Homer, Shakespeare, van Gogh, and Bach. These are authors, playwrights, painters, musicians, and more. You can find a complete listing of crater names here. Most of these names date from the 1970s, from images taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft. But, now we have more images, taken in two passes by the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2008. Over two dozen features from these images now have official names. Some of the names were announced in April, and others were more recently announced in November. (I’m a bit late blogging about this since I’ve been so swamped all semester). Below is an image showing some of the latest newly named craters (click on the image to see it full sized).
Though MESSENGER is an American spacecraft, the IAU is naming craters using people from all over the world, representing as many cultures as possible. So, I guess that it is not surprising that I don’t know all of these names. Perhaps it is my lack of a global education, but the only names that I recognize from these two sets of newly named craters are Dali (named for the artist Salvador Dali) and Poe (named for American author Edgar Allan Poe). But, I imagine that there are plenty of my readers who recognize some of these names. And, as scientists study the images sent back by MESSENGER, they’ll be a need to name more craters near various geological features of importance. So, there is a chance that I’ll recognize some of those names.
-Astroprof
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Ed on December 22, 2008 at 10:17 am: 1
Munch and Beckett but I was thinking of a different Beckett: Samuel.
Sili on December 22, 2008 at 12:18 pm: 2
Well, Glinka rings a bell.