You Could Name a Crater on the Planet Mercury

The team of scientists and educators behind the Messenger spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury is giving the public the chance to nominate artists, writers, or composers whose names deserve to be on one of five craters on the hot little planet closest to the Sun.

There have been a number of publicity campaigns recently that deal with naming things, but this one is the real thing. By international agreement, the naming of worlds and features in space is done by a special committee of the International Astronomical Union (the U.N. of astronomers.) But the committee is happy (when there is no duplication or veering from tradition) to honor the wishes of the discoverers. And the Messenger team, having discovered many new craters on the wonderful close-up images they have obtained, is happy to give the public a chance to participate.

Also by agreement, Mercury's huge population of impact craters is going to be named only for well-known composers of music, serious artists, and writers of renown. The most famous people in these categories (Beethoven, Van Gogh, Tolstoy) already have craters named for them. So now, it's time to find less well-known people from a wide range of cultures to be honored. The Messenger team will submit their 15 favorite entries to the committee to select the names of five newly discovered craters. You can see photos of the craters and get all the details on the contest website: http://namecraters.carnegiescience.edu/home

You are encouraged to check first to see if your favorite candidates don't already have a crater. I was pleased to see that Jean Sibelius, one of my favorite composers, was already on the list. On the other hand, Alexander Scriabin, who took romantic music in amazing new directions, and wanted to combine sound and light long before there were laser shows, still hasn't got a crater to his name anywhere in the solar system. Maybe some of us have to nominate him.

The rules say anyone you nominate has to have been publicly known for at least 50 years and dead for at least three. But beyond that, you are encouraged to get -- pardon the expression -- creative. The contest starts today and is open for only one month. There is no prize, only the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped put someone whose work you really enjoy on another world.

To see all the people who have given their names to features in the solar system, you can search at: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/AdvancedSearch  (putting the last name into the field called "Feature Name.")