[meteorite-list] Newly Named Mercury Craters Honor Hawaiian Guitarist, Beloved Young Adult Author

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:36:42 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201303262136.r2QLaglH024855_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=238

MESSENGER Mission News
March 26, 2013

Newly Named Mercury Craters Honor Hawaiian Guitarist, Beloved Young Adult Author

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) - the arbiter of planetary
and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919 - recently
approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to
nine impact craters on Mercury. In keeping with the established naming
theme for craters on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are
named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other
contributors to the humanities. The newly named craters are


    * Alver, for Betti Alver (1906-1989), an Estonian writer who rose
      to prominence in the 1930s, toward the end of Estonian
      independence and on the eve of World War II. She published her
      first novel, Mistress in the Wind, in 1927. She also wrote
      several short stories, poetry, and translations.

    * Donelaitis, for Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714-1780), a Lutheran
      pastor who was considered one of the greatest Lithuanian poets. He
      is best known for The Seasons, considered the first classic
      Lithuanian poem. It depicts the everyday life of Lithuanian
      peasants. His other works include six fables and a tale in verse.

    * Flaiano, for Ennio Flaiano (1910-1972), an Italian screenwriter,
      playwright, novelist, journalist, and drama critic especially
      noted for his social satires. He became a leading figure of the
      Italian motion-picture industry after World War II, collaborating
      with writer Tullio Pinelli on the early films of writer and
      director Federico Fellini.

    * Hurley, for James Francis "Frank" Hurley (1885-1962), an
      Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in several
      expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer
      with Australian Imperial Forces during both world wars. The troops
      called him "the mad photographer," because he took considerable
      risks to obtain photographs.

    * L'Engle, for Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007), an American writer
      best known for young-adult fiction, particularly the award-winning
      A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, A
      Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time.
      Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong interest
      in modern science.

    * Lovecraft, for Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), an
      American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction regarded
      as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century.
      He popularized "cosmic horror," the notion that some concepts,
      entities, or experiences are barely comprehensible to human minds,
      and those who delve into such topics risk their sanity.

    * Petofi, for Sandor Petofi (1823-1849), a Hungarian poet and
      liberal revolutionary. He wrote the Nemzeti dal (National Poem),
      which is said to have inspired the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
      that grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire.

    * Pahinui, for Charles Phillip Kahahawai "Gabby" Pahinui,
      (1921-1980), a Hawaiian guitar player considered to be one of the
      most influential slack-key guitar players in the world. His music
      was a key part of the "Hawaiian Renaissance," a resurgence of
      interest in traditional Hawaiian culture during the 1970s.

    * Roerich, for Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), a Russian painter and
      philosopher who initiated the modern movement for the defense of
      cultural objects. His most notable achievement was the Roerich
      Pact of 1935, an international treaty signed by India, the Baltic
      states, and 22 nations of the Americas (including the United
      States), affirming that monuments, museums, scientific, artistic,
      educational, and cultural institutions and their personnel are to
      be considered neutral in times of war unless put to military use.

Ray Espiritu, a mission operations engineer on the MESSENGER team,
submitted Pahinui's name for consideration. "I wanted to honor the place
where I grew up and still call home even after many years away," he
says. "The Pahinui crater contains a possible volcanic vent, and its
name may inspire other scientists as they investigate the volcanic
processes that helped to create Mercury, just as investigation of
Hawaiian volcanoes helps us understand the volcanic processes that shape
the Earth we know today."

These nine newly named craters join 95 other craters named since the
MESSENGER spacecraft's first Mercury flyby in January 2008.

"We are delighted that the IAU has once again assigned formal names to a
new set of craters on Mercury," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator
Sean Solomon of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
"These names will make it easier to discuss these features in the
scientific literature, and they provide a fresh opportunity to honor
individuals who have contributed to the cultural richness of our planet."

More information about the names of features on Mercury and the other
objects in the Solar System can be found at the U.S. Geological Survey's
Planetary Nomenclature Web site:
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/index.html .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet
and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC),
to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's extended
mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. A possible
second extended mission is currently under evaluation by NASA. Dr. Sean
C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the
MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.
Received on Tue 26 Mar 2013 05:36:42 PM PDT