Kulla (crater on Ganymede)

Kulla is an impact crater on Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, measuring 93.00 km in diameter and centered at 33.22° north latitude, 113.87° west longitude in the planetographic coordinate system used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).¹ The name, adopted by the IAU in 1985, honors the Sumerian god of brick making.¹

Location and setting

Kulla lies in the northern hemisphere of Ganymede, spanning about two degrees of latitude around its center at 33.22° N.¹ The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, which records the crater's coordinates and extent, notes that the mapped boundaries of named features are approximate and portray only rough extents.¹

Ganymede, the host body, is the largest moon in the solar system, larger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto, with a diameter of about 3,270 miles (5,260 kilometers).² Its surface preserves impact craters over extended geological timescales, and it carries a dense population of craters of many sizes.³

Naming

The 1985 approval date places Kulla among a group of Ganymede crater names adopted that year. The nearby crater Mush, 99 km across and centered at 114.77° W, close to Kulla's longitude, received its name in the same year.⁴

Context in Ganymede's crater population

At 93 km, Kulla falls within the size range of Ganymede's large complex craters. A survey using Galileo data found central pit craters on Ganymede in the 12–144 km diameter range, a class of crater in which an inner depression replaces the central peak common on rocky bodies.⁵ Ganymede's crater forms also include central dome craters, pedestal craters, and the large degraded features called palimpsests, a variety of impact morphologies attributed to the structural and thermal state of its icy crust at the time of impact.⁶

References

1. Kulla, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, USGS Astrogeology Science Center
2. Ganymede: Facts, NASA Science
3. Antum Crater: A Window Into Ganymede's Icy Evolution, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (2025)
4. Nomenclature Search Results, Ganymede craters, USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
5. Barlow et al. (2017). Comparison of central pit craters on Mars, Mercury, Ganymede, and the Saturnian satellites. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 52(7)
6. Large Impact Features on Icy Galilean Satellites: Implications for Ice Shell Thickness and Habitability, NASA NTRS (2023)

Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026

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