Apollodorus is an
impact crater
An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...
on
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
. Its unusual appearance, with radiating dark troughs, led to a nickname of "the Spider" by scientists before its official name was decided.
Apollodorus is located near the center of
Pantheon Fossae
The Pantheon Fossae are a radial set of troughs in a region in the middle of Caloris Basin on Mercury. They appear to be a set of graben formed by extensional faults, with a 40 km crater located near the center of the pattern. The exact ori ...
, which is a system of radial
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
s situated in the inner part of the
Caloris basin
Caloris Planitia is a plain within a large impact basin on Mercury, informally named Caloris, about in diameter. It is one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System. "Calor" is Latin for "heat" and the basin is so-named because the Sun ...
. The floor,
rim and walls of Apollodorus expose a low reflectance material (LRM) excavated during the impact from beneath the light volcanic plains, which cover the central part of the Caloris.
It is not currently known whether it played a role in the fossae's formation or if its location is merely a coincidence, although no graben appears to cut the crater rim, and the dark impact ejecta partially covers grabens, suggesting that Apollodorus postdates Pantheon Fossae. In addition, the crater is slightly (by about 40 km) offset from the exact center of the Pantheon Fossae.
[
]Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus ( grc, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Δαμασκηνός) was a Nabataean architect and engineer from Damascus, Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD. As an engineer he authored several technical treatises, ...
is credited as the architect of the Pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
in Rome.
Views
Apollodorus crater EN0233264093M.jpg, MESSENGER image at high sun angle, showing the northern crater and possible hollows
Apollodorus crater MESSENGER NAC mosaic.jpg, Mosaic of MESSENGER images
References
Impact craters on Mercury
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