Stickney is the largest 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...

 on Phobos

Phobos (moon)

Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...

, which is a satellite

Natural satellite

A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called its primary. The two terms are used synonymously for non-artificial satellites of planets, of dwarf planets, and of minor planets....

 of Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

. It is located at 1°N 49°W and is 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) in diameter, taking up a substantial proportion of the moon's surface.

It is named after Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, wife of Phobos's discoverer, Asaph Hall

Asaph Hall

Asaph Hall III was an American astronomer who is most famous for having discovered the moons of Mars in 1877...

. In 1878 Hall wrote that he "might have abandoned the search [for Martian satellites] had it not been for the encouragement of [his] wife." The crater was named in 1973, based on Mariner 9

Mariner 9

Mariner 9 was a NASA space orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and reached the planet on November 13 of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit...

 images, by an IAU

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...

 nomenclature committee chaired by Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...

.
Stickney has a smaller crater within it, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in diameter, resulting from a later impact. In 2006 it was given the name Limtoc, after a character in Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...

.

Grooves and crater chain

Crater chain

A crater chain is a line of craters along the surface of an astronomical body. The descriptor term for crater chains is catena , as specified by the International Astronomical Union's rules on planetary nomenclature....

s appear to radiate from Stickney. These have led to theories about the impact that formed Stickney nearly destroying the moon. However, evidence from the Mars Express

Mars Express

Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was...

orbiter indicate that they are unrelated to Stickney and may have been formed by material ejected from impacts on Mars. The crater has a noticeable lineated texture on its interior walls, caused by landslides from materials falling into the crater.

It is possible that Stickney is large enough to be seen with the naked eye from the surface of Mars. It is located at the middle of the western edge of Phobos's face, on the Mars-facing side.

In culture

In Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...

's science fiction novel Red Mars in the Mars trilogy

Mars trilogy

The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...

series, the crater Stickney is the site of a crater-domed city used as the initial base of the first hundred colonists of Mars.

External links

• Flight around Phobos (animated movie)
• Stickney in High Resolution