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Craters named for astronomers and observatory figures

100 articles

Gledhill (Martian crater)

Gledhill is an impact crater on Mars, about 78 kilometers wide, in the southern highlands near the Hellas basin; it was named in 1973 for British astronomer Joseph Gledhill.

Graff (Martian crater)

Graff is a large impact crater on Mars, Gazetteer feature ID 2234, about 154-158 km across, centered near -21.18°, 153.81° E; named for German astronomer Kasimir Graff (1878-1950), IAU-approved 1973.

Halley (Martian crater)

Halley is an 83.72-km-wide impact crater on Mars at 48.34°S, 300.73°E, named for British astronomer Edmund Halley and approved in 1973; HiRISE monitors its gullies and dunes.

Hartwig (Martian crater)

Hartwig is a roughly 99-km-wide impact crater on Mars at 38.66°S, 344.14°E, named in 1973 for German astronomer Ernst Hartwig (1851-1923); imaged by HiRISE (ESP_046657_1405).

Henry (Martian crater)

Henry crater, a roughly 170-km-diameter impact crater in Arabia Terra on Mars, named for a 19th century French astronomer, known for its thick layered floor deposit studied as possible aeolian sediment.

Herschel (Martian crater)

Herschel is a 304.5-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 14.73°S, 129.70°E, a large southern-highlands basin with concentric floor ridges and HiRISE-monitored barchanoid dune fields.

Hipparchus (Martian crater)

Hipparchus (Martian crater): impact crater on Mars at 44.45S, 208.80E, 94.81 km diameter, officially named 1973 for the Greek astronomer Hipparchus; distinct from the lunar crater of the same name.

Huggins (Martian crater)

Huggins is an IAU-named impact crater on Mars in Terra Cimmeria, about 90 km across, centered near 49S 156E; named in 1973 for British astronomer Sir William Huggins (1824-1910).

Hussey (Martian crater)

Hussey is a 99.71-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 53.32°S, 233.41°E, named in 1973 for American astronomer William J. Hussey (1862-1926); its floor holds a dune field imaged by Mars Odyssey.

Huygens (Martian crater)

Huygens is a 470-km-wide peak-ring impact crater on Mars at about 14°S, 55°E in the Noachian highlands near the NW rim of Hellas; fifth largest identifiable Martian crater, excavating pre-Noachian crust over 25 km deep and recording Noachian volcanism and water alteration.

Ibragimov (Martian crater)

Ibragimov, an 87-km IAU-named impact crater on Mars at 25.43°S, 59.57°W in quadrangle mc18, approved 1982 for Soviet Azerbaijani astrophysicist Nadir Baba Ogly Ibragimov (1932–1977).

Janssen (Martian crater)

Janssen is an IAU-approved 158 km impact crater on Mars near 2.7°N, 37.5°E, approved in 1973 and named for French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen; distinct from the larger 200.65 km lunar crater of the same name.

Jarry-Desloges (Martian crater)

Jarry-Desloges is a roughly 92 km impact crater on Mars in Tyrrhena Terra, south of Syrtis Major Planitia, named in 1973 for René Jarry-Desloges (1868-1951), a French astronomer who observed Mars.

Jones (Martian crater)

Jones is a roughly 90 km impact crater in Margaritifer Terra, Mars, at 18.88°S, 340.17°E, named for British astronomer Harold S. Jones and IAU-approved in 1973; its ejecta buries Samara and Loire Valles, dating the impact after Late Noachian–Early Hesperian fluvial activity.

Keeler (Martian crater)

Keeler is a 95-km IAU-approved impact crater on Mars at −60.71°, 208.70°E in Terra Sirenum, distinguished from the other Keeler gazetteer entry (Feature 2976) by its dune-covered floor imaged by Mars Odyssey THEMIS.

Kepler (Martian crater)

Kepler is a 233-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 46.76°S, 140.9°E, an IAU-approved complex crater with mapped impact melt-rich lithologies proposed as sampling targets for future missions.

Knobel (Martian crater)

Knobel is a 128.60 km diameter impact crater on Mars at 6.62S, 133.20E, named in 1973 for British astronomer Edward B. Knobel, with a volcanic-filled flat floor near Gale crater.

Koval'sky (Martian crater)

Koval'sky is a large impact crater on Mars, about 309 km in diameter, in the southern Memnonia quadrangle and filled with lava flows and ash deposits.

Lamont (Martian crater)

Lamont is a 76.62-km-wide impact crater on Mars at -58.17°, 246.46°E, named for German astronomer Johann von Lamont (1805-1879), IAU-approved 1973; distinct from the lunar ridge ring of the same name.

Lampland (Martian crater)

Lampland, a 79-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 35.58 S, 280.40 E, cataloged as Gazetteer Feature ID 3260; its north rim shows iron-containing mafic minerals in CRISM infrared data.

Lassell (Martian crater)

Lassell is an 85.60-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 20.61°S, 297.54°E, IAU-approved in 1973 and named for British astronomer William Lassell, who also has a smaller lunar crater of the same name.

Le Verrier (Martian crater)

Le Verrier is a 140-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 37.67°S, 17.10°E, named for astronomer Urbain Le Verrier, IAU-approved 1973; a smaller 20.52 km Martian crater and a lunar crater share the name, and a triple crater lies east of it.

Li Fan (Martian crater)

Li Fan is an IAU-approved impact crater on Mars, Gazetteer feature ID 3379, 104.80 km across, centered at 46.86 degrees south latitude, 206.80 degrees east longitude.

Liais (Martian crater)

Liais is an IAU-approved impact crater on Mars, 122.78 km across, centered at 75.30°S, 106.93°E near the south pole. Named in 1973 for French astronomer Emmanuel Liais (1826-1900).

Liu Hsin (Martian crater)

Liu Hsin is a 137-km-diameter impact crater on Mars in the Phaethontis quadrangle at about 53.3°S, 171.6°W, named for the Han-dynasty scholar Liu Xin and recorded in the USGS-IAU Gazetteer.

Lockyer (Martian crater)

Lockyer, an IAU-approved 71.35 km impact crater on Mars at 27.84°, 160.51°E, cataloged as Gazetteer Feature ID 3444; imaged by Mars Odyssey, distinct from the lunar crater of the same name.

Lohse (Martian crater)

Lohse is a 155.50-km-diameter IAU-approved impact crater on Mars in Noachis Terra, centered at -43.36°, 343.20°E, named in 1973 for German astronomer Oswald (1845-1915), with rim channels, central-peak gullies, and candidate recurring slope lineae.

López (Martian crater)

López (Lopez) is an 85-km-wide impact crater on Mars at 14.57°S, 98.04°E in quadrangle MC-22, IAU-approved October 7, 2014 and named for Mexican astronomer and author Epidio López (1879–1965).

Lowell (Martian crater)

Lowell is a roughly 200-km-wide peak-ring impact crater in Aonia Terra in Mars' southern highlands, approved by the IAU in 1973 and named for American astronomer Percival Lowell.

Mädler (Martian crater)

Mädler is a 125-km-diameter impact crater on Mars at 10.68°S, 2.70°E (USGS Feature ID 4092), smooth-floored and ancient, named for astronomer Johann Heinrich Mädler; distinct from the 27.58-km lunar crater Mädler.