Pharos (crater)
Pharos is the largest impact crater on Proteus , the second largest moon on the planet Neptune .
features
Pharos has an average diameter of 255 km and 230 km and a depth of 10 to 15 km. In relation to the mean diameter of Proteus of only 420 ± 7 km, it is one of the largest craters in the solar system . The crater has a kind of central mountain . The central elevation of the crater lies in the form between the central lava filling of the lunar crater Ptolemaeus and the central structure of the Tethys crater Odysseus . The crater walls are of unequal height. There is an annular bottom hollow near the crater walls. In the southwestern part of Pharos there is another crater about 100 km in diameter. From 45 ° S 10 ° W to 20 ° S 30 ° W there is a 12 km wide trench on the Pharos floor. Depressions such as valley-like depressions and suppressed craters surround Pharos.
designation
Pharos is the only surface feature on Proteus with a proper name. The crater was named after the island of Pharos , which lies off the Egyptian coast near Alexandria and is one of the abodes of the sea god Proteus from Greek mythology . Proteus lived on the island as a seal keeper.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Steven K. Croft: Proteus: Geology, Shape and Catastrophic Destruction . doi : 10.1016 / 0019-1035 (92) 90156-2 (Lecture from January 1992 at the Neptune / Triton conference in Tucson ; English)
- ↑ a b Philip J. Stooke: The Surfaces of Larissa and Proteus . In: Earth, Moon and Planets 65 of April 26, 1994, page 47pp, bibcode : 1994EM & P ... 65 ... 31S ( PDF , 1.3 MB; English)
- ↑ Pharos in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) (English)