Haystack Catena

Haystack Catena
	Oblique MESSENGER NAC mosaic
Feature type	Catena
Coordinates	4°25′N46°29′W / 4.42°N 46.48°W
Eponym	Haystack Observatory

Last updated August 22, 2024

Haystack Catena is a catena on Mercury. It superficially resembles a graben but is a chain of overlapping secondary craters.^[1] It is named after Haystack Observatory, and was originally named Haystack Vallis when it was imaged by Mariner 10 in 1974, but the name was changed in 2013 to better reflect its origin. It is approximately 274 km long.^[2] It is located near the center of the Kuiper quadrangle, and it is radial to a large, unnamed crater that is Tolstojan in age.^[3]

To the southwest of the catena is a large (50 km diameter), unnamed crater of Kuiperian age.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Degas is a rayed crater on Mercury at latitude 37.5 N, longitude 127 W. Its diameter is 54 kilometres (34 mi). It was named after the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas in 1979. The rays consist of light colored material blasted out during the crater's formation. Craters older than Degas are covered by the ray material, while younger craters are seen superimposed on the rays. Degas forms a crater pair with Brontë to the north. Both lie near the center of Sobkou Planitia.

Vyāsa is a crater on Mercury. It was named by the IAU in 1979, after the Indian poet Vyasa. It is Tolstojan in age.

Raphael is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1976, and is named for the Italian painter Raphael. It is Tolstojan in age.

Homer is a crater on Mercury. It is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury. It is Tolstojan in age.

Bashō is a crater on Mercury named after Matsuo Bashō, a 17th-century Japanese writer. Bashō crater is only 74.62 kilometers (46.37 mi) in diameter, but is a prominent feature on Mercury's surface, due to its bright rays. Photographs from NASA's Mariner 10 and MESSENGER spacecraft show a curious halo of dark material around the crater. The dark material is typically referred to as low-reflectance material (LRM) and there is evidence that it is caused by graphite.

Titian is an impact crater on the planet Mercury. It was named by the IAU in 1976.

To Ngoc Van is a pit-floored crater on Mercury, named after the Vietnamese artist Tô Ngọc Vân. It was discovered in January 2008 during the first flyby of the planet by MESSENGER spacecraft. Its floor displays an irregularly shaped collapse feature, which is called a central pit. The size of the pit is 21 × 10 km. Such a feature may have resulted from collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central part of the crater. The collapse feature is an analog of Earth's volcanic calderas.

Hokusai is a rayed impact crater on Mercury, which was discovered in 1991 by ground-based radar observations conducted at Goldstone Observatory. The crater was initially known as feature B. Its appearance was so dissimilar to other impact craters that it was once thought to be a shield volcano. However, improved radar images by the Arecibo Observatory obtained later in 2000–2005 clearly showed that feature B is an impact crater with an extensive ray system. The bright appearance of rays in the radio images indicates that the crater is geologically young; fresh impact ejecta has a rough surface, which leads to strong scattering of radio waves.

De Graft is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2009, after Ghanaian playwright, poet, and novelist Joe de Graft.

Ailey is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 21 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in on April 24, 2012. Ailey is named for the American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, who lived from 1931 to 1989.

Balzac is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. Balzac is named for the French writer Honoré de Balzac, who lived from 1799 to 1850.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dostoevskij (crater)</span> Crater on Mercury

Dostoevskij is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 430 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979. Dostoevskij is named for the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who lived from 1821 to 1881. It is Tolstojan in age.

Futabatei is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 57 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. Futabatei is named for the Japanese novelist Futabatei Shimei, who lived from 1864 to 1909.

Holst is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on April 24, 2012.

Tyagaraja is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. Tyagaraja is named for the Indian composer Tyagaraja.

Sanai is a large, ancient crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2014, after the Persian poet, Sanai of Ghazna.

Aneirin is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 467 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on June 13, 2014. Aneirin is named for the Welsh poet Aneirin. Prior to naming, the crater was referred to as b37. It is Tolstojan in age.

Erté is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2013. It is named for the artist and designer known as Erté.

Spitteler is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1976. It is named for the Swiss epic poet Carl Spitteler.

Seuss is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2012. It is named for the American author and cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.

References

↑ H-6 text_all.word Archived November 2, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Haystack Catena". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. IAU/NASA/USGS . Retrieved 17 June 2024.
↑ Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.3.
↑ Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.4.

This article about the planet Mercury is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about an extraterrestrial geological feature is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] H-6 text_all.word Archived November 2, 2004, at the Wayback Machine

[2] "Haystack Catena". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. IAU/NASA/USGS . Retrieved 17 June 2024.

[3] Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.3.

[4] Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.4.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]