Chesterton (crater)

Coordinates: 88°31′N 126°54′W / 88.51°N 126.9°W / 88.51; -126.9
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Chesterton
MESSENGER image with Chesterton at left
PlanetMercury
Coordinates88°31′N 126°54′W / 88.51°N 126.9°W / 88.51; -126.9
QuadrangleBorealis
Diameter37.23 km
EponymGilbert Keith Chesterton

Chesterton is a crater on Mercury, near the north pole. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2012, after the English author G. K. Chesterton.[1]

The floor of the crater is in permanent shadow. S band radar data from the Arecibo Observatory collected between 1999 and 2005 indicates a radar-bright area covering the entire floor of Chesterton, which is probably indicative of a water ice deposit.[2][3][4]

Radar-bright deposits near the north pole. Chesterton is above left of center.

Chesterton is adjacent to Tryggvadóttir crater.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Chesterton". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. NASA. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  2. ^ Chabot, N. L., D. J. Lawrence, G. A. Neumann, W. C. Feldman, and D. A. Paige, 2018. Mercury's Polar Deposits. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 13, Figure 13.2.
  3. ^ PIA19411: Water Ice on Mercury, NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
  4. ^ John K. Harmon, Martin A. Slade, Melissa S. Rice, 2011. Radar imagery of Mercury’s putative polar ice: 1999–2005 Arecibo results. Icarus, 211, p37-50. doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2010.08.007