Copland (crater)
Encyclopedia
Copland is a crater
on Mercury
.
Copland crater is flooded with volcanic smooth plains material that could be related to the activity that formed the nearby bright vent.
images from Mercury flyby 3 revealed that the small bright feature, seen at the left edge of this image, is not an impact crater
but more closely resembles a volcanic vent. No convention for naming volcanic vents on Mercury has yet been adopted, because none were identified prior to MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby. However, even if a convention for naming volcanic features on Mercury is adopted in the future, the naming rules will likely differ from those for impact craters, and thus "Copland" would probably not be an acceptable name for the bright volcanic feature. A MESSENGER team member corresponded with Mr. Dantowitz and suggested that the name Copland be proposed instead for a large crater nearby. He agreed, and the International Astronomical Union
(IAU) approved the name Copland on March 3, 2010.
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
on Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
.
Copland crater is flooded with volcanic smooth plains material that could be related to the activity that formed the nearby bright vent.
Naming
Amateur astronomer Ronald Dantowitz and his colleagues Scott Teare and Marek Kozubal used the Mt. Wilson 60-inch telescope in 1998 to observe a very bright feature on this portion of Mercury's surface, and they assumed that the bright feature was an impact crater. Mr. Dantowitz expressed his wish that the crater be named "Copland" once better images of the area were obtained from spacecraft. Surprisingly, MESSENGERMESSENGER
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging space probe is a robotic NASA spacecraft in orbit around the planet Mercury. The spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004 to study the chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field of Mercury...
images from Mercury flyby 3 revealed that the small bright feature, seen at the left edge of this image, is not an impact crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
but more closely resembles a volcanic vent. No convention for naming volcanic vents on Mercury has yet been adopted, because none were identified prior to MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby. However, even if a convention for naming volcanic features on Mercury is adopted in the future, the naming rules will likely differ from those for impact craters, and thus "Copland" would probably not be an acceptable name for the bright volcanic feature. A MESSENGER team member corresponded with Mr. Dantowitz and suggested that the name Copland be proposed instead for a large crater nearby. He agreed, and the International Astronomical Union
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...
(IAU) approved the name Copland on March 3, 2010.