Sapkota (crater)

Sapkota
	MESSENGER image
Planet	Mercury
Coordinates	86.09°N 132.79°W
Diameter	27.4 km
Eponym	Mahananda Sapkota

Sapkota is a crater on Mercury, located near the north pole. It was named by the IAU in 2015, after Nepalese poet Mahananda Sapkota.[1]

S band radar data from the Arecibo Observatory collected between 1999 and 2005 indicates a lack of a radar-bright area within the interior of Sapkota, despite the fact that the floor of the crater is in permanent shadow.[2] Many nearby craters do have radar-bright areas which likely indicate water ice deposits.

References

Sapkota, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
Chabot, N. L., D. J. Lawrence, G. A. Neumann, W. C. Feldman, and D. A. Paige, 2018. Mercury's Polar Deposits. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 13, Figure 13.2.

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[1] Sapkota, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)

[2] Chabot, N. L., D. J. Lawrence, G. A. Neumann, W. C. Feldman, and D. A. Paige, 2018. Mercury's Polar Deposits. In Mercury: The View After MESSENGER edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 13, Figure 13.2.