Campbell (Martian crater)

Campbell Crater
MOLA map showing location of Campbell Crater in relation to other craters. Colors indicate elevations. Campbell is on top of the map
Planet Mars
Region Eridania quadrangle
Coordinates 54°42′S 165°24′E / 54.7°S 165.4°E / -54.7; 165.4Coordinates: 54°42′S 165°24′E / 54.7°S 165.4°E / -54.7; 165.4
Diameter 129 km
Eponym William Wallace Campbell
Campbell Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).
Dust devil tracks, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Campbell Crater.

Campbell Crater is an impact crater in the Eridania quadrangle of Mars, located at 54.7°S latitude and 194.6°W longitude. It is 129.0 km in diameter and was named after John W. Campbell and William Wallace Campbell, and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).[1]

Nearby prominent named craters include Rossby to the north, Very to the northeast, Liu Hsin (Liu Xin) to the east, Mendel almost to the south and Huggins to the northwest.

Dust devil tracks have been seen in Campbell Crater. Many areas on Mars experience the passage of giant dust devils. These dust devils leave tracks on the surface of Mars because they disturb a thin coating of fine bright dust that covers most of the Martian surface. When a dust devil goes by it blows away the coating and exposes the underlying dark surface. Within a few weeks, the dark track assumes its former bright color.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature | Campbell". usgs.gov. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.