Mead (Venus Crater)
| Crater on Venus | ||
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| Mead | ||
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| Mead Crater. Radar image of the Magellan probe from November 12, 1990. The dark stripes were created while processing the radar data. | ||
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| position | 12 ° 30 ' N , 57 ° 12' E | |
| diameter | 270 km | |
| history | ||
| Eponym | Margaret Mead | |
Mead is by far the largest impact crater on the planet Venus . Its naming after the American ethnologist Margaret Mead was confirmed by the IAU in 1991.
location
The crater is located in the lowlands near Aphrodite Terra , northwest of the Ovda Regio.
description
Mead has a diameter of 270 kilometers and belongs to the category of multi-ring craters. Its inner ring is believed to be the actual aftermath of an asteroid impact . The radar-brighter floor within the inner ring is either due to lava that filled the crater before it solidified, or it shows material ejected by the impact that fell back into the crater. There is no central elevation, as is common with impact craters of this size. The outer ring can be understood as an unfolding due to flank sliding along a steep slope. The slope of the crater is remarkably flat for its size, about one kilometer from its rim to its center.
Web links
- Mead in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (WGPSN) / USGS
- Mead in the Venus Crater Database, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston
Individual evidence
- ↑ astropage.eu: Venus - surface. # Impact crater.
- ↑ solarviews.com: Impact crater on Venus. # Features of large craters.