USGS Astrogeology Hot Topics

The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for seven craters, two fossae, one tholus, one terra, one planitia, and two rupēs on Vesta. For details, see the list of Vesta feature names and the image of Vesta in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Coordinates for these names are in a system used by the Dawn Team.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:10

The names Hano and Momoy have been approved for craters on Titan. For more information, see the Titan page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:54

The names of six montes (Angmar, Dolmed, Echoriath, Gram, Merlock, and Rerir Montes) and four undae (Boreas, Eurus, Notus, and Zephyrus Undae) have been approved for Titan. For details, see the list of Titan feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:01

The names of fourteen craters and one tholus have been approved for Vesta. For details, see the list of Vesta feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Coordinates for these names are in a system used by the Dawn Team.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 07:36

The names Corozal, Palikir, Raga, and Tivat have been approved for use on Mars. For more information, see the maps of Mars in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 15:12

The name Lauriacum has been approved for the small crater that defines zero degrees longitude on asteroid (21) Lutetia. For more information, see the Lutetia page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:40

The Mars portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature now defaults to a new set of coordinates; all of the Martian features now match the Mars Digital Image Mosaic (MDIM) 2.1 control network.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 13:37

Names for two craters (Öpik and Shklovsky), one planitia (Lagado Planitia), and one regio (Laputa Regio) have been approved for use on Phobos. For more information, see the Phobos page and the map of Phobos in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:53

The names Lipany, Oenotria Plana, and Zarqa Valles have been approved for use on Mars. The name Oenotria Scopulus has been changed to the plural form, Oenotria Scopuli, to accomodate the addition of several scarps to this feature. For more information, see the maps of MC-13 and MC-21 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:29

The name Dogana has been approved for the Martian crater located at 10.0S, 306.35E. For more information, see the database information and the map of MC-18 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:34

Three new lacus names (Cardiel Lacus, Freeman Lacus, and Towada Lacus) have been approved for use on Titan. For more information, see the Titan page and the map of the north polar region of Titan in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:03

Names for 18 craters, 1 dorsum, 2 fossae, 3 labēs, 8 regiones, 2 rimae, and 2 rupēs have been approved on asteroid (21) Lutetia. For more information, see the Lutetia page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 11:21

In late 2010, the coordinates of the named features in the Mercury portion of the nomenclature database were updated from values from historical sources to values in the preliminary MESSENGER control network. The purpose of this work was to facilitate the identification of named features on Mercury. Dots representing the coordinates of the centers of named features will fall in the centers of the features when displayed on any map product that was created using the same control network.

The extents and sizes of the named features were also updated; these data are approximate and are intended solely to give the user sufficient information to identify named features and their rough extents.

This new set of coordinates was derived using ArcMap version 9.3.1 and the global map of Mercury.  Because MESSENGER does not yet have global coverage of Mercury, Mariner 10 data were used to fill in areas where MESSENGER has not yet collected image data.  In order for the two data sets to align, the preliminary MESSENGER control network was tied to the Mariner 10 map using several ground truth points.

The Mercury portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature web site now defaults to showing feature coordinates in the frame of the preliminary MESSENGER control network. The original ‘unknown’ source coordinates are still retained in the gazetteer, but this data set is now considered archival and will not be updated with new names or changes to approved names.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:43

The following themes have been approved for naming surface features on asteroid (21) Lutetia:

Craters: Cities of the Roman Empire and the adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia (52 BC - 360 AD)

Regiones: Discoverer of Lutetia, and provinces of the Roman Empire at the time of Lutetia

Other features: Rivers of the Roman Empire and the adjacent parts of Europe at the time of Lutetia

Please visit the surface features categories page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature to see the themes for other bodies in the solar system.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:38

New names for 13 craters and 3 fossae have been approved for Dione. For more information, see the Dione page and the map of Dione in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:39