Eminescu is a
peak ring
A peak ring crater is a type of complex crater, which is different from a multi-ringed basin or central-peak crater. A central peak is not seen; instead, a roughly circular ring or plateau, possibly discontinuous, surrounds the crater's center, ...
crater
Crater may refer to:
Landforms
*Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
*Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...
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 ...
in diameter. Since there are very few later craters superposed on it, Eminescu appears to be a young crater formed around one billion years ago.
It has a transitional morphology between larger more complex impact basins like
Raditladi and smaller simpler central peak craters.
The impact ejecta and chains of
secondary craters extend as far as one radius from the
rim. There are no bright or dark
crater rays, with the crater rim itself being higher in altitude than the surrounding cratered plains. The crater walls are degraded by slumping, forming distinct blocks of material. The crater floor consists of complex structures, including ejecta deposits, impact melts and possibly units placed by
effusive volcanism.
[
The bright bluish central peaks within the crater are arranged in a circular pattern forming a ]peak ring
A peak ring crater is a type of complex crater, which is different from a multi-ringed basin or central-peak crater. A central peak is not seen; instead, a roughly circular ring or plateau, possibly discontinuous, surrounds the crater's center, ...
.[ The peaks exhibit unusual color characteristics similar to the bright crater floor deposits (BCFD) seen in other craters on Mercury. The crater floor both inside and outside the peak ring is covered by dark smooth plains, which appear to surround it. These plains are probably volcanic in origin. Further from the peak ring near the crater walls, there are areas covered by a bright material. They are subdivided into bright smooth plains in the north-east corner of Eminescu, and mottled and rough terrain elsewhere. The bright units were originally thought to be impact melts,][ but exhibit the characteristics of landforms now known as '' hollows''.Dreaming of a white Christmas]
25 December 2013, NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The crater is named after Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, a Romanian poet (1850–1889).[
File:Eminescu crater MESSENGER WAC IGF to RGB.jpg, Exaggerated color view of Eminescu
File:Eminescu crater MESSENGER WAC IGF to RGB 2.jpg, Oblique color view
File:Eminescu EN1025911602M.map.jpg, The central peak complex of Eminescu is surrounded by hollows
]
References
{{Mercury (planet)
Impact craters on Mercury