![[USGS Banner]](/assets/banners/default.jpg)
Mercury Crater Named Stieglitz
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The name Stieglitz has been approved for a crater on Mercury. For more information, see the map of Mercury quadrangle H-1 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Two Craters on Mars Named Baucau and Arima
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The names Arima and Baucau have been approved for craters on Mars. For more information, see the map of Mars quadrangle MC-18 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
New Name Approved for Martian Fossae
Monday, January 23, 2012The name Sinai Fossae has been approved for the Martian fossae located at 14.0S, 281.0E. For more information, see the gazetteer page for Sinai Fossae and the map of MC-18 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Names Approved for Three Terrae and Two Regiones on Titan
Thursday, January 5, 2012The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved names for three terrae (Garotman, Tollan, and Yalaing Terrae) and two regiones (Concordia and Hetpet Regiones) on Titan. For details, see the list of Titan feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
New Name Approved for Martian Vallis
Tuesday, January 3, 2012The name Havel Vallis has been approved for the Martian vallis located at 1.0N, 302.5E. For more information, see the web page for Havel Vallis and the map of MC-10 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Fourteen More Names Approved for Surface Features on Vesta
Tuesday, December 27, 2011The 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.
Two New Names Approved for Craters on Titan
Friday, December 23, 2011
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.
New Names for Montes and Undae on Titan
Monday, December 5, 2011The 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.
First Names for Vesta Approved
Monday, October 3, 2011The 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.
Four New Names Approved for use on Mars
Thursday, September 29, 2011The 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.
Longitude Defining Crater on Lutetia Named Lauriacum
Friday, September 2, 2011The 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.
Mars Feature Coordinates Updated to MDIM 2.1
Thursday, August 11, 2011
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. In late 2010, the coordinates of the named craters in the Martian portion of the nomenclature database were updated from values from the MDIM 2.0 control network to values in the MDIM 2.1 control network. In the spring of 2011, the remaining Martian features (i.e., all the named features that are not craters) were also updated to MDIM 2.1. Since the MDIM 2.1 network was tied to local Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) generated from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data, this implies the features now match MOLA data products and other products in that reference frame. The GIS download that contains all of the features in the MDIM 2.0 control network is still retained in the gazetteer, but is now considered archival and will not be updated with new names or changes to approved names. The extents and sizes of the named features were also updated, and vectors describing feature boundaries were drawn; these data are approximate and are intended solely to give the user sufficient information to identify named features and their rough extents. This work was accomplished using ArcMap version 9.3.1 and the Mars Digital Image Mosaic 2.1. Some features are not resolved well in the 2.1 mosaic; for these cases, feature coordinates were derived from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) Day IR 100m global mosaic. We would like to thank Stuart Robbins (University of Colorado, Boulder) for sharing a portion of his global crater database, which provided a valuable and time-saving starting point for the crater portion of this work.
Four New Names Approved for Phobos
Thursday, July 28, 2011Names 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.
Three New Names for Features on Mars and Changes to an Approved Name
Tuesday, June 14, 2011The 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.
Martian Crater Named Dogana
Tuesday, April 19, 2011The 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.
