Astraea Nunatak ( 71°59′S70°25′W / 71.983°S 70.417°W ) is a nunatak 6 miles (10 km) south of Staccato Peaks in southern Alexander Island. It was mapped from trimetrogon air photography taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947–48, and from survey by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1948–50, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Astraea, one of the asteroids lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
According to the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) aeromagnetic 1975 survey of Astraea Nunatak and nearby Ceres Nunataks, this geographical feature is rich in the igneous rocks Diorite and Tonalite as presumed by the rock samples which were observed by BAS during this survey.
In December 1975, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) (originally known as the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS)) embarked on an 8-week long survey observing the proposed theory of Astraea Nunatak and Ceres Nunataks having an aeromagnetic connection between one another. I. A. Crawford and R. W. Girdler embarked on the survey, along with other accompanists and personnel members, flying at a constant barometric altitude of approximately 1130 meters (3707 feet, with an east-west flightline separation of about 7.5 kilometers. Here, they proved that these geographical features were rich in geologic minerals which shared similar characteristics. Data was sampled at one-second intervals, which, at ground speed of approximately 240 kilometers per hour, equates to 15 data points for every kilometer covered. The total distance traveled on the surface was 2200 kilometers (1367 miles). The equipment used included a Geometrics G-803 proton precision magnetometer with both analogue and digital recording, a Bendix DRA-12 Doppler navigation system and Sperry C-12 gyro-magnetic compass, and a Bonzer radio altimeter.
Overall, the 2-month long survey was a successful event and contributed to the history of Alexander Island and the Antarctic Peninsula in itself. Former contributors to this survey include:
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarctic Peninsula from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. The George VI Ice Shelf entirely fills George VI Sound and connects Alexander Island to Palmer Land. The island partly surrounds Wilkins Sound, which lies to its west. Alexander Island is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) long in a north–south direction, 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in the north, and 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide in the south. Alexander Island is the second-largest uninhabited island in the world, after Devon Island.
The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica.
Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, 215 km (134 mi) long, 90 km (56 mi) wide and 15,700 km2 (6,062 sq mi) in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third-largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Island.
Alexandra Mountains is a group of low, separated mountains in the north portion of Edward VII Peninsula, just southwest of Sulzberger Bay in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered in January–February 1902 by the British National Antarctic Expedition during an exploratory cruise of the Discovery along the Ross Ice Shelf. Named for Alexandra, then Queen of the United Kingdom.
James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to 1,630 metres (5,350 ft), it is irregularly shaped and extends 64 km in a north–south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld, who named it for Sir James Clark Ross, the leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842 that discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The style, "James" Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.
The Ford Ranges are a grouping of mountain ranges standing east of Sulzberger Ice Shelf and Block Bay in the northwest part of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition on December 5, 1929, they were named by Byrd for Edsel Ford of the Ford Motor Company, who helped finance the expedition.
Arrowsmith Peninsula is a cape about 40 miles (64 km) long on the west coast of Graham Land, west of Forel Glacier, Sharp Glacier and Lallemand Fjord, and northwest of Bourgeois Fjord, with Hanusse Bay lying to the northwest. It was surveyed by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1955-58 and named for Edwin Porter Arrowsmith, Governor of the Falkland Islands.
Iapetus Nunatak is an isolated nunatak at the southwest margin of Satellite Snowfield, about midway between the Walton Mountains and the Staccato Peaks in southern Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was mapped by the Directorate of Overseas Surveys from satellite imagery supplied by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, and was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee from association with Saturn Glacier, after Iapetus, one of the satellites of Saturn.
Staccato Peaks is a series of rock peaks extending 11 miles (18 km) in a north–south direction, rising to about 940 m with Hageman Peak being the highest peak of the Staccato Peaks, rising from the snowfields 20 miles (32 km) south of the Walton Mountains in the south part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The peaks were first sighted from the air by Lincoln Ellsworth on November 23, 1935, and mapped from photos taken on that flight by W.L.G. Joerg. Remapped from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947–48, by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960. The name, given by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee, refers to the precipitous and abrupt way in which the peaks rise from the surrounding snowfields and is associated with other musical names in the vicinity.
The Batterbee Mountains are a group of prominent mountains rising to 2,200 metres (7,200 ft), which forms part of the dissected edge of Dyer Plateau overlooking George VI Sound, on the west coast of Palmer Land. First seen and photographed from the air by Lincoln Ellsworth on 23 November 1935, they were charted from the ground in October 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) under John Rymill, and named after Sir Harry Batterbee (1880–1976), Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Dominions Office, 1930–38, and Chairman of the Polar Committee in 1934, who gave help to the expedition.
The Black Nunataks are a group of about nine nunataks located 10 nautical miles (19 km) west-southwest of Mount Harding in the Grove Mountains, Antarctica. They were mapped by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions from air photos, 1956–60, and named by the Antarctic Names Committee of Australia after I. Black, a geophysicist at Mawson Station, 1963.
The Ceres Nunataks are a group of three nunataks located immediately east of the base of Shostakovich Peninsula in southern Alexander Island, Antarctica. They were mapped by the Directorate of Overseas Surveys from satellite imagery supplied by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Ceres, one of the asteroids lying between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
Nobby Nunatak is a nunatak, 270 m, standing 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) south of Lake Boeckella and 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) east of Mount Flora, at the northeast end of Antarctic Peninsula.
Evensen Nunatak is a nunatak 1.5 nautical miles (3 km) northwest of Dallmann Nunatak in the Seal Nunataks group, off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was first charted by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in August 1947, and named by them for Captain Carl Julius Evensen of the Hertha, who explored along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in 1893.
Pawley Nunataks is a line of four nunataks on the east side of Mount Allan, Traverse Mountains, on the Rymill Coast, Palmer Land. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1977 after Michael R. Pawley, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) general assistant, 1969–71, and Station Leader, Stonington Island, 1972–73.
Mimas Peak is a sharp conspicuous peak, rising to about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) west of the head of Saturn Glacier and 9 nautical miles (17 km) west of the Dione Nunataks in the southeast part of Alexander Island, Antarctica. It was first seen and photographed from the air by Lincoln Ellsworth on November 23, 1935, and mapped from these photos by W.L.G. Joerg. The peak was sighted from a distance in 1949 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) and roughly positioned. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for its association with nearby Saturn Glacier, Mimas being one of the satellites of the planet Saturn. The peak and surrounding area were first mapped in detail from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition 1947–48, by D. Searle of the FIDS in 1960. Note that some maps incorrectly attach the name to a subsidiary and smaller peak off the east flank of the mountain. The name is actually attached to the highest peak in the Herschel Heights range.
The Haslam Heights are a line of peaks trending north-northeast–south-southwest, rising to about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to the west of Vallot Glacier and Nye Glacier in Arrowsmith Peninsula, Graham Land, Antarctica. They were probably first seen by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10 under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, which roughly charted the area in 1909. They were roughly mapped by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1948, and named in 1985 by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) after Rear Admiral Sir David W. Haslam, Hydrographer of the Navy, 1975–85.
Selene Nunatak is a nunatak rising to about 1,200 m west of Lunar Crag, situated within the mountain range Planet Heights, in eastern Alexander Island, Antarctica. The nunatak was named in association with nearby Lunar Crag by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1988 after Selene, the Greek goddess of the Moon.
Tethys Nunataks is a minor group of about five snow-free nunataks, lying 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) northeast of Stephenson Nunatak in the southeast corner of Alexander Island, Antarctica. Presumably first seen by Finn Ronne and Carl R. Eklund of the United States Antarctic Service who sledged through George VI Sound in 1940–41. Surveyed in 1949 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for association with nearby Saturn Glacier, Tethys being one of the satellites of the planet Saturn, the sixth planet of the Solar System.
Recluse Nunatak is an isolated rock exposure lying on the Handel Ice Piedmont, midway between Haydn Inlet and the Colbert Mountains in the west-central portion of Alexander Island, Antarctica. The nunatak was first mapped from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE), 1947–48, by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1960. The name given by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) suggests the isolated position of the nunatak, considering this landform is situated far away from other landforms of Alexander Island.