{ "id": "ep4yat6jbb", "slug": "travers-mercurian-crater", "title": "Travers (Mercurian crater)", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places" }, { "id": "places.extraterrestrial", "label": "Extraterrestrial places", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.extraterrestrial" }, { "id": "places.extraterrestrial.surface-features", "label": "Planetary surfaces and named features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.extraterrestrial.surface-features" }, { "id": "places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features", "label": "Mercury surface features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features" }, { "id": "places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters", "label": "Mercury craters", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters" }, { "id": "places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers", "label": "Craters named for novelists and prose writers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers", "label": "Non-geographic · Not dated: Craters named for novelists and prose writers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers", "path": [ { "id": "geo.nongeo", "label": "Non-geographic", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate", "label": "Non-geographic · Not dated", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial", "label": "Extraterrestrial places", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features", "label": "Planetary surfaces and named features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features", "label": "Mercury surface features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters", "label": "Mercury craters", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers", "label": "Craters named for novelists and prose writers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Travers is an impact crater on Mercury, 164 km in diameter, named in 2018 for P. L. Travers, the Australian-born British writer of the Mary Poppins books.", "snippet": "Travers is an impact crater on Mercury, 164 km in diameter, named in 2018 for P. L. Travers, the Australian-born British writer of the Mary Poppins books.", "node": "places.extraterrestrial.surface-features.mercury-features.craters.craters-named-for-novelists-and-prose-writers", "markdown": "# Travers (Mercurian crater)\n\n**Travers** is an impact crater on the planet Mercury, 164.00 km in diameter, centered at 28.00° south latitude and 329.10° west longitude in the planetographic coordinate system used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) The IAU adopted the name on October 19, 2018, honoring Pamela Lyndon Travers (born Helen Lyndon Goff; 1899-1996), the Australian-born British writer best known for the [Mary Poppins](https://www.edgepedia.org/mary-poppins-book-series) series of children's books.[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Target and type | Crater on Mercury[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Diameter | 164.00 km[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Center | 28.00°S, 329.10°W (planetographic, +West, 0-360)[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Extent | Latitude -26.10° to -30.00°, longitude 327.10° to 331.10°[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Quadrangle | H-14[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Approval | Adopted by IAU, October 19, 2018[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n| Namesake | P. L. Travers, Australian-born British writer of the Mary Poppins books (1899-1996)[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) |\n\n## Location and mapping\n\nThe crater sits in Mercury's southern hemisphere at mid-southern latitudes, with its rim spanning about 3.9 degrees of latitude and 4 degrees of longitude.[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) It falls within the H-14 quadrangle of the 1:5 million-scale series of Mercury maps, a 15-quadrangle series whose base mosaic was produced from orbital images by the [MESSENGER](https://www.edgepedia.org/messenger) team and released by NASA's Planetary Data System in March 2013.[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773) • [2](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/mercuryQuadMap)\n\n## Naming\n\nThe name was approved by the IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) on October 19, 2018, the same day the group approved the name [Carleton](https://www.edgepedia.org/carleton-mercurian-crater) for another Mercurian crater and the names Meteor Rupes and Kainan Rupes, all shown on Mercury map H-14.[3](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/News?page=18) The gazetteer entry records the reference work behind the name choice as *Mary Poppins She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers* by Valerie Lawson (Aurum, 2005).[1](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773)\n\n## Context\n\nTravers belongs to the large population of impact craters on Mercury. A global database compiled from MESSENGER imagery catalogs more than 31,000 craters larger than 5 km across, excluding obvious secondary craters, and craters of Travers's size, well over 100 km in diameter, are among the planet's major impact structures.[4](https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JE005516) Mercury's surface records a long cratering history, and the distribution of craters provides the main source of information about the age and geologic history of the planet.[4](https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JE005516)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Travers, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, USGS Astrogeology Science Center](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773)\n2. [1:5 Million-Scale Maps of Mercury, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/mercuryQuadMap)\n3. [Nomenclature News, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature](https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/News?page=18)\n4. [Herrick et al. (2018). Observations From a Global Database of Impact Craters on Mercury With Diameters Greater than 5 km. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.](https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JE005516)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Extraterrestrial places › Planetary surfaces and named features › Mercury surface features › Mercury craters › Craters named for novelists and prose writers*\n\n*Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Travers (Mercurian crater)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Travers (Mercurian crater)](https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater](https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Travers (Mercurian crater)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/travers-mercurian-crater. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Travers is an impact crater on Mercury, 164 km in diameter, named in 2018 for P. L. Travers, the Australian-born British writer of the Mary Poppins books." }