Beckett (crater)

Beckett
Photo of Beckett crater (center) by MESSENGER
Planet Mercury
Coordinates 40°06′S 248°48′W / 40.1°S 248.8°W / -40.1; -248.8Coordinates: 40°06′S 248°48′W / 40.1°S 248.8°W / -40.1; -248.8
Diameter 55 km[1]
Eponym Clarice Beckett

Beckett is a pit-floored crater on Mercury, which was discovered in January 2008 during the first flyby of the planet by MESSENGER spacecraft.[2] Its floor is not smooth and displays a telephone or arc-shaped collapse feature, which is also called a central pit. The size of the pit is 35 × 7.5 km.[1] Such a feature may have resulted from the collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central part of the crater.[1] The collapse feature is an analog of Earth's volcanic calderas.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gillis-Davis, Jeffrey J.; Blewett, David T.; Gaskell, Robert W.; Denevi, Brett W.; Robinson, Mark S.; Strom, Robert G.; Solomon, Sean C.; Sprague, Ann L. (2009). "Pit-floor craters on Mercury: Evidence of near-surface igneous activity". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 285 (3–4): 243–250. Bibcode:2009E&PSL.285..243G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.023.
  2. ↑ "MESSENGER Views an Intriguing Crater". JHU/APL. January 20, 2008. Archived from the original on November 20, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  3. ↑ "A Newly Pictured Pit-Floor Crater". JHU/APL. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2009.


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