![]() MESSENGER wide angle camera image of Rodin (right) and Ts'ai Wen-Chi (left) | |
Feature type | Peak-ring impact basin |
---|---|
Location | Victoria quadrangle, Mercury |
Coordinates | 21°43′N18°53′W / 21.72°N 18.89°W |
Diameter | 230.0 km (142.9 mi) |
Eponym | Auguste Rodin |
Rodin is an impact crater on the planet Mercury, 230 kilometers in diameter. The rim is even and circular, except where it is broken in two places toward the north and south. It is named for the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. [1]
Rodin is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury. [2]
Rodin is located north of the craters Abu Nuwas and Moliere, and east of the crater Ts'ai Wen-Chi.
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.
Bach is a double-ringed impact basin within the Bach quadrangle of Mercury. It was named by the IAU in 1976.
Mozart is a crater on Mercury, named by the IAU in 1976 after Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Polygnotus is a crater on Mercury, named by the IAU in 1976, after ancient Greek painter Polygnotus. The crater was first imaged by Mariner 10 in 1974.
Praxiteles is a crater on Mercury. It is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury.
Moody is an impact crater on Mercury.
Munkácsy, named after Mihály Munkácsy, is a crater on Mercury. Munkácsy originally had a double-ring basin structure, but most of the inner ring was buried when the basin was flooded with volcanic lava. Only a few remnants of the ring poke up through the lava, although low ridges in the lava seem to trace out much of the rest of the ring's circumference. Munkácsy is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury.
Izquierdo is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2009, for the Mexican painter María Izquierdo. The floor of Izquierdo is smooth, the result of having been partially filled with volcanic lava. Circular outlines of the rims of “ghost craters” – smaller, older craters that have been largely buried by the lavas that infilled the basin – are visible in a few places on Izquierdo's floor. The remnants of a buried inner ring are also barely discernible in spots, and it is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury. There have been more recent impacts into the floor of Izquierdo, resulting in some small, sharply defined craters.
Scarlatti is a pit-floored crater on Mercury, which was discovered in 1974 by the Mariner 10 spacecraft. It has a prominent peak ring, and it is one of 110 peak ring basins on Mercury. The crater floor is covered by the smooth plains material. The crater displays an arcuate collapse feature along the northeastern peak ring. The size of the pit, which was first noticed in MESSENGER images obtained in January 2008, is 38 × 12 km. Such a feature may have resulted from collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central peak ring complex of the crater. The collapse feature is an analog of Earth's volcanic calderas. Scarlatti is thought to have the same age as the Caloris basin.
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.
Lange is a crater on Mercury. It was named by the IAU in 2009 after American photographer Dorothea Lange.
Rachmaninoff is an impact crater on Mercury. This basin, first imaged in its entirety during MESSENGER's third Mercury flyby, was quickly identified as a feature of high scientific interest, because of its fresh appearance, its distinctively colored interior plains, and the extensional troughs on its floor. The morphology of Rachmaninoff is similar to that of Raditladi, which is one of the youngest impact basins on Mercury. The age of Raditladi is estimated at one billion years. Rachmaninoff appears to be only slightly older.
Ahmad Baba is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 127 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1979.
Machaut is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. Machaut is named for the French composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut, who lived from 1300 to 1377. The crater was first imaged by Mariner 10 in 1974.
Mark Twain is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1976. Mark Twain is named for the American author Mark Twain, who lived from 1835 to 1910.
Renoir is a crater on the planet Mercury. Its name, after the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976.
Caravaggio is a large crater on Mercury. The crater was named after the Italian painter Caravaggio by the IAU in 2013.
Nabokov is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on April 24, 2012. Nabokov is named for the Russian and American author Vladimir Nabokov.
Wen Tianxiang is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in June 2020, and it is named for Chinese writer and poet Wen Tianxiang.