Macula (geology)

Thera macula and Thrace macula on Jupiter's moon Europa

Macula (Mz. Maculae ) is a Latin expression for spot .

In planetary geology , the term macula refers to an unusually dark area on a planet or moon . The term was introduced in 1979 by Bradford A. Smith and co-authors to characterize surface structures of Jupiter's moon Europa on images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft . Later on, surface structures on Mars , Titan and Triton were also called macules.

Maculae on different celestial bodies

The International Astronomical Union currently lists 20 surface structures officially designated as maculae on four different celestial bodies. (As of August 2018):

Maculae on Europa

Castalia macula on Jupiter's moon Europa

Macules on Mars

Olympus macules

Macules on titanium

Ganesa macula on Saturn's moon Titan

Macules on Triton

Individual evidence

^ Ronald Greeley, Raymond M. Batson: Planetary Mapping . Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-03373-X , p. 116.
↑ JM Moore, KC Bender, RJ Sullivan, R. Greeley, AS McEwen, BR Tufts, JW Head III, RT Pappalardo, MJS Belton & the Galileo SSI Team: Europan macula: Possible origins. In: Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference , pp. 973–974, 1997. (digitized version )

↑ BA Smith, LA Soderblom, R. Beebe, J. Boyce, G. Briggs, M. Carr, St. A. Collins, AF Cook II, GE Danielson, ME Davies, GE Hunt, A. Ingersoll, TV Johnson, H Masursky, J. McCauley, D. Morrison, T. Owen, C. Sagan, EM Shoemaker, R. Strom, VE Suomi & J. Veverka: The Galilean Satellites and Jupiter: Voyager 2 Imaging Science Results. In: Science , Vol. 206, Issue 4421, pp. 927-950, 1979. (abstract)

↑ International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN): Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (Nomenclature Search Results - Feature Name: Macula) Retrieved August 12, 2018

[1] Ronald Greeley, Raymond M. Batson: Planetary Mapping . Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-03373-X , p. 116.

[Moore_et_al.,_1997-2] JM Moore, KC Bender, RJ Sullivan, R. Greeley, AS McEwen, BR Tufts, JW Head III, RT Pappalardo, MJS Belton & the Galileo SSI Team: Europan macula: Possible origins. In: Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference , pp. 973–974, 1997. (digitized version )

[Smith_et_al.,_1979-3] BA Smith, LA Soderblom, R. Beebe, J. Boyce, G. Briggs, M. Carr, St. A. Collins, AF Cook II, GE Danielson, ME Davies, GE Hunt, A. Ingersoll, TV Johnson, H Masursky, J. McCauley, D. Morrison, T. Owen, C. Sagan, EM Shoemaker, R. Strom, VE Suomi & J. Veverka: The Galilean Satellites and Jupiter: Voyager 2 Imaging Science Results. In: Science , Vol. 206, Issue 4421, pp. 927-950, 1979. (abstract)

[IAU-4] International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN): Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (Nomenclature Search Results - Feature Name: Macula) Retrieved August 12, 2018