Degas (crater)

Degas is a rayed crater on Mercury at latitude 37.5 N, longitude 127 W. Its diameter is . It was named after the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas in 1979. The rays consist of light colored material blasted out during the crater's formation. Craters older than Degas are covered by the ray material, while younger craters are seen superimposed on the rays. Degas forms a crater pair with Brontë to the north. Both lie near the center of Sobkou Planitia.

The crater's floor contains cracks that formed as the pool of impact melt cooled and shrank. The high-reflectance material on the walls and in the central portion of the crater probably has a composition distinct from that of the crater floor and surroundings. The illumination conditions and down-slope movement of eroded material exposing fresh rock also contribute to the bright appearance.

Degas is one of the largest craters of the Kuiperian system on Mercury. The largest is Bartók crater.Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In ''Mercury: The View After MESSENGER'' edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.4.

Views

File:Mariner 10 image 0000271.png, '' Mariner 10'' image
File:Degas crater MESSENGER NAC mosaic.png, MESSENGER mosaic
File:Degas crater MESSENGER NAC sequence.jpg, Sequence of adjacent but non-overlapping images acquired by MESSENGER NAC of the interior of Degas. All images are oblique and looking northwest. The upper left three images show the central peak. The upper right and lower left images show the fractured crater floor. The two central bottom images show terraces and flow structures on the northern slope of the crater wall. The lower right image shows the crater rim. Distance across foreground in each image is approximately 2.5 km.

References

External links

*

Impact craters on Mercury

{{Mercury-planet-stub