Dantu is a large crater on
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
, located within the
Vendimia Planitia
Ceres is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The IAU has adopted two themes for naming surface features on Ceres: agricultural deities for craters and agricultural festivals for everything else.
...
. It is rimmed by a number of minor
faculae
A facula (plural: faculae ), Latin for "little torch", is literally a "bright spot". The term has several common technical uses. It is used in planetary nomenclature for naming certain surface features of planets and moons,. and is also a type of ...
, which together form
Bright Spot 2.
Etymology
The crater is named after ''Dantu'', the timekeeper and first god of planting (
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...
) of the
Gã people
The Ga-Dangbe, Gã-Daŋbɛ, Ga-Dangme, or GaDangme are an ethnic group in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The Ga and Dangbe people are grouped respectively as part of the Ga–Dangme languages, Ga–Dangme Ethnolinguistics, ethnolinguistic group. The Ga- ...
of Accra, Ghana.
[Marion Kilson (2013) ''Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual'']
Formation
Dantu is thought to have formed Ma (million years) ago, based on the amount of crater impacts present within its ejecta blankets.
Physical features
The walls of Dantu are quite heavily eroded, with most of the north-eastern wall having collapsed completely.
[ Due to Dantu's relatively young age its crater floor is smooth, with few additional craters present within it.][ Dantu's floor is also home to a system of fractures, which are mostly located in the south of the crater.][
The center of Dantu is home to a peak, with a ring complex around said peak.][ The majority of Dantu's ]pit crater
A pit crater (also called a subsidence crater or collapse crater) is a depression formed by a sinking or collapse of the surface lying above a void or empty chamber, rather than by the eruption of a volcano or lava vent. Pit craters are found ...
s surround this feature, with said pit craters largely being between 400 and 900 metres in diameter.
References
Further reading
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{{Ceres
Impact craters on asteroids
Surface features of Ceres