A limb view showing the northern part of the 1,640 kilometer- / 1,018-mile-wide Caloris Basin within the Raditladi Quadrangle in the northern hemisphere on Mercury. MESSENGER acquired this image on October 18, 2014. Read more about this image from Andrew R. Brown. Image via NASA / JHU / APL MESSENGER spacecraft.
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting Mercury since March 2011. It is the first spacecraft ever to orbit this innermost planet in our solar system. Yesterday (December 15, 2014), MESSENGER’s public outreach team launched a competition inviting the public to name five impact craters on Mercury. The contest runs from December 15, 2014, to January 15, 2015. Fifteen finalist names for craters will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for selection of the five winners. Winning submissions will be announced by the IAU to coincide with the end of MESSENGER’s mission. Despite frequent boosts to higher orbit over the past months, the spacecraft is expected to run out fuel and crash into Mercury in late March or April 2015.
Read more about how to enter the contest here.
According to the IAU — self-appointed governing body of planetary and satellite nomenclature since 1919 – all new craters on Mercury must be named after an artist, composer, or writer who was famous for more than 50 years and has been dead for more than three years. See the current list of named Mercury craters.
The contest allows the public to immortalize an important person in the arts and humanities from anywhere in the world. Submissions will be accepted beginning midnight (00:00 UTC) on December 15, 2014, until January 15, 2015 (23:59 UTC). IAU decisions will be final.
Bottom line: The outreach team of NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has organized a competition to name five impact craters on Mercury. Submit your ideas December 15, 2014, to January 15, 2015. Finalists go to the IAU for selection of the five winners. Click here for more information about how to enter.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1xppRV1
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire