 MESSENGER mosaic | |
| Feature type | Impact crater |
|---|---|
| Location | Neruda quadrangle, Mercury |
| Coordinates | 40°12′S 248°43′W / 40.20°S 248.71°W / -40.20; -248.71 |
| Diameter | 60.0 km (37.3 mi) |
| Eponym | Clarice Beckett |
Beckett is a pit-floored crater on Mercury, which was discovered in January 2008 during the first flyby of the planet by the MESSENGER spacecraft. The crater was named in November 2008 by the IAU.
Its floor is not smooth and displays a telephone or arc-shaped collapse feature, which is also called a central pit. The size of the pit is 35 × 7.5 km. Such a feature may have resulted from the collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central part of the crater (see also Gibran, Glinka, and Picasso). The collapse feature is an analog of Earth's volcanic calderas.
References
- "MESSENGER Views an Intriguing Crater". JHU/APL. January 20, 2008. Archived from the original on November 20, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
- Beckett, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
- ^ Gillis-Davis, Jeffrey J.; Blewett, David T.; Gaskell, Robert W.; Denevi, Brett W.; Robinson, Mark S.; Strom, Robert G.; Solomon, Sean C.; Sprague, Ann L. (2009). "Pit-floor craters on Mercury: Evidence of near-surface igneous activity". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 285 (3–4): 243–250. Bibcode:2009E&PSL.285..243G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.023.
- "A Newly Pictured Pit-Floor Crater". JHU/APL. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
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