Pahinui (crater)

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Pahinui
Pahinui crater EN0220635824M.jpg
MESSENGER image
Planet Mercury
Coordinates 28°10′S213°13′W / 28.16°S 213.21°W / -28.16; -213.21
Quadrangle Neruda
Diameter 54 km (34 mi)
Eponym Gabby Pahinui
Oblique context image with Pahinui at lower right Pahinui crater EN0231828375M.jpg
Oblique context image with Pahinui at lower right

Pahinui is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2016, after the Hawaiian musician, Charles Phillip Kahahawai "Gabby" Pahinui. [1]

There is a rimless, irregular depression in the center of Pahinui, making it a pit-floor crater. Such a feature may have resulted from the collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central part of the crater. [2]

To the west of Pahinui is Coatl Facula, a bright area within an unnamed crater. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Pahinui". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. IAU/NASA/USGS . Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Gillis-Davis, Jeffrey J.; Blewett, David T.; Gaskell, Robert W.; Denevi, Brett W.; Robinson, Mark S.; Strom, Robert G.; Solomon, Sean C.; Sprague, Ann L. (2009). "Pit-floor craters on Mercury: Evidence of near-surface igneous activity". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 285 (3–4): 243–250. Bibcode:2009E&PSL.285..243G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.023.
  3. ↑ "Coatl Facula". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. IAU/NASA/USGS . Retrieved 30 August 2023.


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