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There are a number of objects in the solar system that have been named after Bulgarian people or places. Many of these are craters on the terrestrial planets but asteroids and exoplanets have also received Bulgarian names.
Caloris Planitia is a plain within a large impact basin on Mercury, informally named Caloris, about 1,550 km (960 mi) in diameter. It is one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System. "Calor" is Latin for "heat" and the basin is so-named because the Sun is almost directly overhead every second time Mercury passes perihelion. The crater, discovered in 1974, is surrounded by the Caloris Montes, a ring of mountains approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) tall.
Stokes is an impact crater on Mars, located on the Martian Northern plains at 55.9°N latitude and 188.8°W longitude. It measures approximately 62.74 kilometres (38.98 mi) in diameter and was named after Irish-born physicist George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903). The crater's name was officially adopted by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature in 1973.
Vishniac is the larger crater of the Martian surface feature called the Giant's Footprint. It was named after Wolf V. Vishniac, a microbiologist who died on an expedition to Antarctica. Professor Carl Sagan felt very bad for the scientist, and so found an unnamed crater at the exact longitute and latitude that he died on Mars and named it after him. The feature was originally observed by Mariner 7 in 1969. In 1999, the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera was able to provide more detailed pictures. The crater measures approximately 80.47 kilometres (50 mi) in diameter. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1976.
Bounce Rock is a football-sized primarily pyroxene rock found within the Meridiani Planum of the planet Mars. It was discovered and observed by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in April 2004. The rock was named for it having been struck by Opportunity as the craft bounced to a stop during its landing stage.
Eddie is a crater in the Elysium quadrangle of Mars. It is 89 km in diameter and was named after Lindsay Eddie, a South African astronomer (1845–1913).
Tikhonravov is a large, eroded crater in the Arabia quadrangle of Mars. It is 344 kilometres (214 mi) in diameter and was named after Mikhail Tikhonravov, a Russian rocket scientist. Tikhonravov is believed to have once held a giant lake that drained into the 4,500-kilometre-long (2,800 mi) Naktong-Scamander-Mamers lake-chain system. An inflow and outflow channel has been identified. Many craters once contained lakes.
Puńsk is an impact crater on Mars, located in the Oxia Palus quadrangle at 20.8° N and 41.2° W. It measures 11.6 kilometers in diameter and was named after the village of Puńsk in Poland.
Centauri Montes is a group of mountains in the Hellas quadrangle of Mars, located at 38.67°S 95.52°E. It is 270 km across and was named after the albedo feature Centauri Lacus. According to NASA, there are light-sediment gulley deposits that have formed in a crater around the Centauri Montes.
Dilly is a crater in the Elysium quadrangle of Mars, located at 13.24° North and 202.9° West. It is only 1.3 km in diameter and was named after Dilly, a town in Mali.
Grindavik is an impact crater in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, located at 25.39° North and 39.07° West. It is 12 km (7.5 mi) in diameter and was named after Grindavík, a town in Iceland. Impact craters generally have a rim with ejecta around them, in contrast volcanic craters usually do not have a rim or ejecta deposits. As craters get larger they usually have a central peak. The peak is caused by a rebound of the crater floor following the impact.
Bacolor is a crater in the Casius quadrangle of Mars, located at 33 North and 241.4 West. 20.8 kilometers (12.9 mi) in diameter, it is named after the municipality of Bacolor in Pampanga, Philippines.
Saheki is a crater on Mars, located in the Iapygia quadrangle at 21.75° S and 286.97° W. It measures approximately 82 kilometers in diameter and was named after Tsuneo Saheki, a Japanese amateur astronomer (1916–1996). The naming was adopted by IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature in 2006.
Santa Maria is an impact crater on Mars, located at 2.172°S, 5.445°W within the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain, lying situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region.
McLaughlin Crater is an old crater in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, located at 21.9°N 337.63°E. It is 90.92 km (56.50 mi) in diameter and 2.2 km (1.4 mi) deep. The crater was named after Dean B. McLaughlin, an American astronomer (1901-1965). The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found evidence that the water came from beneath the surface between 3.7 billion and 4 billion years ago and remained long enough to make carbonate-related clay minerals found in layers. McLaughlin Crater, one of the deepest craters on Mars, contains Mg-Fe clays and carbonates that probably formed in a groundwater-fed alkaline lake. This type of lake could have had a massive biosphere of microscopic organisms.
Cruls is an impact crater in the Eridania quadrangle on Mars at 42.91° S and 163.03° E. and is 87.89 km in diameter. Its name was assigned in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union, in honor of Brazilian astronomer Luís Cruls. Evidence of previous glacial activity is evident in images.
Janssen Crater is an impact crater in the Arabia quadrangle on Mars at 2.7° N and 322.4° W. and is 154 km in diameter. Its name was approved in 1973, and refers to French astronomer Pierre Janssen. Some close up images of the crater reveal layers in a floor deposit. A picture below show these layers, as well as dark slope streaks. The darker the streak, the younger it is. The layers on the floor of Janssen may have been formed on the bottom of lakes.
Sinton is a crater in the Ismenius Lacus quadrangle on Mars. Sinton crater lies in the northern hemisphere, south of the very large crater Lyot and west of Ismeniae Fossae. It was named after Harvard astronomer William M. Sinton. The name was approved in 2007.
Baltisk is a crater in the Argyre quadrangle of Mars. It was named after a town in Russia in 1976. Baltisk is located on the western edge of the Argyre impact basin.
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