how to propose Mercury feature names |
how to propose Mercury feature names |
Mar 31 2011, 02:50 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
I was wondering whether there is a way of proposing names for Mercurian features. Or perhaps someone within the MESSENGER team may read this.
I have long been fascinated with Mongolia and Mongolian culture and I noticed that, while names given to features of Mercury strive to recognize artists and poets of as many cultures worldwide, there is none dedicated to the Mongolian "Michelangelo of Asia", the monk, artist, philosopher and politician Zanabazar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanabazar |
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Mar 31 2011, 03:10 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 46 Joined: 6-January 10 From: Toronto, ON Member No.: 5163 |
Names can be proposed through the IAU (http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/FeatureNameRequest), but there has to be a specific scientific reason for the request. Alas, they also don't always go with your suggestion even if you do follow their naming scheme...I've proposed names for multiple craters on Mars that fit their rules, and they did end up giving all the craters names—but none of them were the names I had suggested.
-------------------- Twitter: @tanyaofmars
Web: http://www.tanyaofmars.com |
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Apr 1 2011, 02:04 PM
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#3
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10146 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Paolo, to expand on tharrison's point, the 'scientific reason' is not about the name you choose but the object you assign it to - names are 'needed' if the object is likely to be referred to frequently in the literature, as a name is more memorable than saying 'the 25 km diameter crater at --- lat., --- long.' For instance, some craters on Mercury have strange bright or dark patches inside them, or unusual ejecta. Some contain irregular pits which may be volcanic vents. So naming them makes sense, they are likely to be talked about. Similarly, names near future landing sites on other worlds are likely to be needed as well.
Just suggesting one name may be unlikely to go anywhere. But providing a list of twenty names from 'under-represented cultures' - with suitable biographic information and published sources - might be found to be very useful by the people doing the naming work. I have also tried and failed to have names accepted! Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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