MSL landing site: Gale Crater Options

[elakdawalla]

Huh. The usage of "Mount Sharp" is already pretty ingrained among mission scientists. Do you think they'll make the switch? I did think it was weird that they press-released the informal name; I figured the IAU wouldn't take that too kindly.

It seems weird that they went with Aeolis Mons and Aeolis Palus. It's certainly not the only mound in Aeolis planum. But I haven't studied place-naming on Mars that closely.

[Phil Stooke]

I think they will go with the official name, but maybe slip in another informal Sharp name somewhere along the way. Their right to use informal names is well established, but I expect they will adapt to the official name as well.

Phil

[nprev]

Odd that USGS & IAU would decide to affix a formal name to these features at this time.

Also interesting is the fact that the USGS appears to state that 'Aeolis' is linked to a classical albedo feature, implying that Gale is observable from relatively small (I'd guess Lowell Observatory ca. early 1900s) Earth-based scopes?

[Phil Stooke]

No, Aeolis is the region Gale is in. Gale itself is not visible, though it might have contributed to a classical canal.

Phil

[nprev]

Got it; thanks, Phil!

Think Emily's right, though; might be a bit hard for the mission folks to shift gears at this late date. For example, bet that there are imaging sequences planned already named "SHARP_SOMETHING".

[djellison]

Got to say - this is a very silly move by the IAU.

[Stu]

Sounds like someone in the IAU has thrown his or her rattle out of the pram, narked at the way humble, low-born mission people christen places and features without the High Council's approval. I can imagine that even now, the IAU High Council are gathering in the Great IAU Hall, to discuss how to address the issue...



Well done IAU, another back of the net own goal.

[djellison]

It's disrespectful to the team that's put in the years of work who are about to explore it and most of all, disrespectful to Bob Sharp.

[Phil Stooke]

Sharp gets a crater nearby. By convention large Mars craters are named after people and mountains after the region they are in. This follows the convention. And there is no conflict between informal mission names and official ones. Indeed there would be nothing wrong with the MSL team continuing to use their own name informally, but I expect they will just port the name Sharp to another feature.

Phil

[mcaplinger]

It's worth pointing out that unlike decisions like what defines a planet, nomenclature issues for planetary features are managed by a task group of planetary scientists: see http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Approved

Still seems odd but as Phil points out naming a raised feature after a person just wasn't going to fit with the existing nomenclature convention.

[djellison]

The IAU could have just done nothing. What they've done is make this now a challenging issue for the project, for media relations etc etc.

[mcaplinger]

The IAU could have just done nothing.

True. Maybe there's an interesting insider politics story here. Certainly the IAU didn't feel compelled to name the Columbia Hills out from under the MER team.

One can complain: "Any objections to these names based on significant, substantive problems must be forwarded in writing or email to the IAU Division III President within three months from the time the name was placed on the web site."

[PDP8E]

There are a seven named peaks in Gusev in the vicinity of Spirit.
from north to south:
Anderson Hill - named after Michael P. Anderson
Brown Hill - named after David M. Brown
Chawla Hill - named after Kalpana Chawla
Clark Hill - named after Laurel Clark
Husband Hill - named after Rick D. Husband
McCool Hill - named after William C. McCool
Ramon Hill - named after Ilan Ramon

The IAU should really take a deep breath and give some wiggle room to the people and organizations who are actually expending the resources and who will actually have a vehicle IN SITU! Its a roving laboratory ON MARS that actually plans to climb that one hill in Gale.

[djellison]

There are a seven named peaks in Gusev in the vicinity of Spirit.

And they were named by the MER team.

[mcaplinger]

There are a seven named peaks in Gusev in the vicinity of Spirit.

Those names don't appear in the IAU Gazetteer and AFAIK have no standing with the IAU.

Look, I'm not arguing with you guys, I agree that this was a confusing and seemingly ill-considered move. It would be interesting to get a statement from Brad Smith, the chair of the IAU Mars Task Group, about why they chose to do this now.