USGS Astrogeology Hot Topics

The name Leighton has been approved for the martian crater located at 3.0N, 302.3W. For more information, see the list of Martian feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:53

Two new names have been approved for small craters on Venus: Alina and Amelia. For more information, see the list of Venus crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:15

Six new names have been approved for use on Venus: Fulgora Dorsa, Heloha Fluctus, Sarasvati Mons, Akka Tholus, Eirene Tholus, and Yansa Tholus. All six of these features can be seen on the Venus map V-1. For more information, see the list of Venus feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:15

Two new names have been approved for use on Mars. The name Gasa has been applied to a small crater located at 35.68S, 230.72W (see the MC-29 map), and the name Ismenius Cavus has been approved for the feature at 33.84N, 343.0W (see the MC-5 map). For more information, see the list of Martian feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:14

The descripter term planitia has been approved for use on Titan with the theme "Names of planets from the Dune series of science fiction novels by American author Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)." The first planitia name on Titan has also been approved; Chusuk Planitia is located at 5.0S, 23.5W. For more information, see the list of Titan planitia names and the Titan images showing named features in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 10:22

The name Euclides D has been officially reinstated for the lunar crater formerly named Eppinger. The 6 km crater is located at 9.4S, 25.7W, on lunar map LAC 76. For more information, see the list of satellite features (lettered craters) in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:22

The following names have been approved for craters on Mercury: Abedin, Benoit, Berkel, Calvino, de Graft, Derain, Eastman, Gibran, Hemingway, Hodgkins, Izquierdo, Kunisada, Lange, Matabei, Munkácsy, and To Ngoc Van. For more information, see the list of Mercury crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 12:07

Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/ARC

This panorama of images from the Spirit rover, taken on Sol 1925 (June 2, 2009), is helping engineers assess the rover's current state and plan her extraction from the soft soil in the region now called "Troy." The images were taken by Spirit's Microscopic Imager (MI) instrument, mounted on the end of her robotic arm. The MI science investigation is led by Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff.

This is the first time the MI has been used to assist in planning a rover's escape from an embedding event. The MI isn't intended to take these types of images--it is designed to focus on targets only 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) in front of its optics. As a result, the images in this mosaic are well out of focus. Yet despite the focus and the backlighting of the scene, Joel Hagen (Modesto Jr. College) and colleagues at NASA's Ames Research Center in California were able process the images to bring out the details shown here. The mosaic shows the underside of the rover, the depth to which the wheels are embedded and the terrain itself in sufficient detail to assess the rover's state.

Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/ARC

More information on the rovers | Official Press Release

Posted by Ryan Raub in MER at 17:43

The name Syria Mons has been approved for the Martian mons located at 13.9S, 104.3W. For more information, see the list of Martian mons names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:27

Three new crater names (Canillo, Doba, and Ehden) and one new planum name (Nepenthes Planum) have been approved for use on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-14 and the list of Martian feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 10:48

The name Hotei Regio has been approved for the region at 26.0S, 78.0W on Titan. Hotei Arcus forms the southern margin of Hotei Regio. For more information, see the list of regio names on Titan and the Titan VIMS mosaic in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:03

The name Aegaeon has been approved for Saturn LIII. Aegaeon is a hundred-armed giant, called Briareus by the gods. For more information, see the "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers" page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:23

The name Asimov has been approved for the Martian crater located at 47.0S, 355.0W. For more information, see the list of Martian crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:10

Three new names have been approved in the polar areas of the Moon; the names Hinshelwood and Whipple for the north pole region, and the name Braude for the south pole region. For more information, see the list of Moon crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 10:25

The USGS and Arizona State University have released THEMIS-derived daytime infrared (IR), nighttime IR, visible, and thermal inertia mosaics of the MSL candidate landing sites, and all mosaics are available for download in ISIS, PNG, and Geo-TIFF formats. The objective of this work is to improve our understanding of the physical characteristics of the surface at the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) candidate landing sites and to aid in the selection of a final landing location. This objective is addressed by using these mosaics to interpret the surface characteristics of these sites and identify potential hazards for lander safety and trafficability. These mosaics are generated in collaboration with Arizona State University (Philip R. Christensen), and their development is funded by the Critical Data Products program through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Posted by Ryan Raub in Missions at 12:18