International Assistance in Naming Craters on Mercury

Abstract:

NASA’s robotic MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft made history in March 2011 by becoming the first to orbit Mercury. During the mission, MESSENGER acquired more than 250,000 images and made many other kinds of measurements. Names are often given to surface features that are of special scientific interest, such as craters.

To draw international attention to the achievements of the spacecraft and engineers and scientists who made the MESSENGER mission a success, the MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Team initiated a Name a Crater on Mercury Competition.Five craters of particular geological interest were chosen by the science team. In accordance with International Astronomical Union (IAU) rules for Mercury, impact craters are named in honor of those who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to the arts and humanities. He or she must have been recognized as a historically significant figure in the arts for at least 50 years and deceased for the last three years. We were particularly interested in entries honoring people from nations and cultural groups underrepresented in the current list of crater names.

From more than 3600 entries received from around the world, the EPO team was able to reduce the number of entries to about 1200 names of 583 different artists who met the contest eligibility criteria. Next, the proposed individuals were divided into five artistic field groups and distributed to experts in that respective field. Each expert reviewed approximately100 artists with their biographical information. They narrowed down their list to a top ten, then to a top five by applying a rubric. The final selection was based on the reviewer lists and scores, with at least three finalist names selected from each artistic field. Of the 17 finalists provided to the IAU, the following names were selected: Carolan crater, Enheduanna crater, Karsh crater, Kulthum crater, and Rivera crater.

For more information about this competition, please visit: http://namecraters.carnegiescience.edu/