Mercury Name Proposal Summary

1
Mercury Name Proposal Summary

• February 18 2008
• Proposal contains unreleased MESSENGER data
• DO NOT DISTRIBUTE

2
Proposed Names
A) Crater, Raditladi B) Crater, Eminescu C)
Crater, Sveinsdóttir D) Rupes, Beagle E) Crater,
Neruda F) Crater, Zhao (first or last) G)
Crater, Cunningham H) Crater, Atget I) Crater,
Sander J) Fossae, Pantheon K) Crater,
Apollodorus L) Crater, Munch M) Crater, Kertész
MESSENGER Mercury Context Map
3
Feature A Raditladi

• Crater
• Leetile Disang Raditladi (Botswana, playwright
  and poet 1910-1971)
• 250 km diameter crater with unusual bright
  central peak (also color anomaly)
• 27.3N, 241.1W, 118.9E

NOTE All close up images to same scale
4
Feature B Eminescu

• Crater
• Mihau Eminescu (Romania, poet 1850-1889)
• 125 km diameter, bright central peak with unusual
  spectral properties
• 10.8N, 245.8W, 114.2E

5
Feature C Sveinsdóttir

• Crater
• Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (Iceland, painter,
  1889-1966)
• 120 x 220 elliptical crater
• 2.5S, 259.9W, 100.1E

6
Feature D Beagle

• Rupes
• Beagle (England, Ship of discovery, carried
  Darwin on global expedition in the 1830s)
• Giant three segment lobate scarp
• 1.9S, 258.8W, 101.2E

7
Feature E Neruda

• Crater
• Pablo Neruda (Chile, writer, 1904-1973)
• 110 km diameter, mottled albedo and smooth floor
• 52.4S, 234.3W, 125.7E

8
Feature F Zhao

• Crater
• Xiao Zhao (China, painter, active 1130-1162)
• 35 km diameter, fresh, bright ray Kuiperian
  crater
• 10.7N, 236.2W, 123.8E

Check first name, last name
9
Feature G Cunningham

• Crater
• Imogen Cunningham (United States, photographer,
  1883-1976)
• 37 km diameter, fresh, bright ray Kuiperian
  crater
• 30.5N, 202.8W, 157.2E

10
Feature H Atget

• Crater
• Eugène Atget (French, Photographer, 1857-1927)
• 100 km diameter low albedo crater SE floor of
  Caloris
• 25.6N, 193.4W, 166.6E

11
Feature I

• Crater
• August Sander (Germany, photographer, 1876-1964)
• 58 km diameter crater floor of Caloris exhibiting
  unusual high albedo material on floor
• 42.7N, 205.3W, 154.7E

12
Feature J Pantheon

• Fossae
• Pantheon (Italy, classic domed building, circa
  125 AD)
• 200 km diameter radiating graben system with
  central impact crater (Apollodorus)
• 30.5N, 191.1W, 162.9

Arrow indicates central crater, note series of
radiating graben
proposed feature category
13
Feature K Apollodorus

• Crater
• Apollodorus of Damascus (Syria or Greece,
  architect, sometimes credited as architect of
  Pantheon, 2nd century AD)
• 41 km diameter crater superposing radiating
  graben system
• 30.5N, 197.1W, 162.9E

Arrow indicates crater with proposed name
Apollodorus
14
Feature L Munch

• Crater
• Edvard Munch (Norway, painter, 1863-1944)
• 220 km diameter crater, excavates anomalous
  material from depth (see low albedo streaks)
• 8.1N, 190.6W, 169.4E

High Sun makes crater hard to see
15
Feature M Kertész

• Crater
• André Kertész (Hungary, Photographer)
• 65 km diameter, Dark Crater SW Caloris - with odd
  high albedo blue floor materials
• 27.5N, 214.1W, 145.9E