You have a chance to suggest a name for one of Mercury’s impact craters!

The MESSENGER science team has selected five craters of particular geological interest for this contest. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the global authority in charge of assigning official names to features on the planets. According to the IAU rules for Mercury, impact craters are named in honor of people who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to the Arts and Humanities (visual artists, writers, poets, dancers, architects, musicians, composers and so on). The person must have been recognized as an art-historically significant figure for more than 50 years and must have been dead for at least three years. We are particularly interested in submissions that honor people from nations and cultural groups that are under-represented amongst the currently-named craters.

It is also essential that there are no other features in the Solar System with the same name. For example, Ansel Adams is not eligible because there is a feature on the Moon with the name ‘Adams’ (even though it was not named for Ansel!). Check your idea against the list of named Solar System features and enter the name in the Search By Feature Name box in the upper right corner.

Lastly, the name should not have any political, religious or military significance.

Freddie?

Exactly what I was going to say.