USGS Astrogeology Hot Topics

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 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

The name Rembrandt has been approved for the Mercury crater located at 33.2S, 271.8W. For more information, see the list of Mercury crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 07:28

The name Cross has been approved for the Martian crater located at 30.2S, 157.8W. For more information, see the list of Martian crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 11:38

The names Catalina, Fuchinobe, Gando, Hammaguira, Kamisunagawa, Kamoi, Komaba, Laurel, Miyabaru, San Marco, Arcoona Regio, LINEAR Regio, Ohsumi Regio, and Yoshinobu Regio have been approved for craters and regiones on Itokawa. For more information, see the list of Itokawa feature names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 09:30

The names Danielson, Galap, Lipik, and Sarh have been approved for Martian craters. For more information, see the list of Martian crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:28

The name Sungari Vallis has been approved for the Martian vallis located at 40.35S, 271.16W. For more information, see the list of Martian vallis names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:13

The following names have been approved for gaps in Saturn's ring system: Bond Gap, Dawes Gap, Herschel Gap, Russell Gap, Jeffreys Gap, Kuiper Gap, Laplace Gap, Bessel Gap, and Barnard Gap. See the "Ring and Ring Gap Nomenclature" page in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature for more information.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 08:58

The name Saravan has been approved for the Martian crater located at 16.96S, 54.0W. For more information, see the list of Martian crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 07:22

The names Aepinus, Bosch, Erlanger, Fibiger, Florey, Gore, Grignard, Haber, Hevesy, Haskin, Houssay, Ibn Bajja, Kocher, Kuhn, Laveran, Nefed'ev, Svedberg, von Baeyer, and Wapowski have been approved for craters in the north and south polar regions of the Moon. For more information, see the list of Moon crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 14:23

The name Victoria has been formally approved for the small Martian crater located at 2.05S, 5.5W in Meridiani Planum. For more information, see the list of Martian crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Posted by Jennifer Blue in Planetary Nomenclature at 10:16