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Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Nomenclature News

  • New Name for a Crater on Mars

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Sitrah for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-24 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Name for a Crater on Mars

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Dollfus for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-19 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Coordinates for Named Features on Mercury

    In 2013, the coordinates of the named features in the Mercury portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature were updated from values from the Preliminary MESSENGER control network to values in the MESSENGER Team system. This new set of coordinates was derived using ArcMap version 9.3.1 and the global mosaic of Mercury produced with orbital images by the MESSENGER team and released by NASA’s Planetary Data System on March 8, 2013. This new global mosaic includes 100% coverage of Mercury’s surface.

    The extents and sizes of the named features were also updated; these data are approximate and are intended solely to give the user sufficient information to identify named features and their rough extents.

    The Mercury portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature web site now defaults to showing feature coordinates that match the MESSENGER team’s global mosaic. The original ‘Unknown’ source coordinates and the Preliminary MESSENGER coordinates are still retained in the gazetteer, but these data sets are now considered archival and will not be updated with new names or changes to approved names.

  • New Name for a Martian Crater - Koshoba

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Koshoba for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-13 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Name for a Crater on Mars

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Artik for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-29 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Name for a Crater on Iapetus

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Abisme for a crater on Iapetus. For more information, see the map of Iapetus in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Names for Four Features on Mars

    The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved new names for four features on Mars: Electris Mons, Eridania Mons, Sirenum Mons, and Sirenum TholusFor more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Names for Three Craters on Mars

    The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved new names for three craters on Mars: Belyov, Reutov, and Tyuratam. For more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Names for Three Sulci and One Regio on Ganymede

    The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved new names for four features on Ganymede: Melotte Regio, Babylon Sulci, Borsippa Sulcus, and Mummu SulciFor more information, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

  • New Name for a Crater on Mars

    The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Martynov for a crater on Mars. For more information, see the map of MC-26 in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.