Pickering Nunataks () is a group of
nunataks lying 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) southwest of
Mount Phoebe and on the northeast side of
Saturn Glacier, near the east coast of
Alexander Island
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarc ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
. The nunataks were photographed by
Lincoln Ellsworth
Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History.
Biography
Lincoln Ellsworth was born on May 12, 1880, to James Ellsworth and Eva F ...
on November 23, 1935, in the course of a trans-Antarctic flight and were plotted from the air photos by
W.L.G. Joerg. Named by
United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee
The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...
(UK-APC) from association with Saturn Glacier after
William H. Pickering (1858–1938), the American
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
who discovered
Phoebe, one of the
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...
s of the planet
Saturn, the sixth planet of the
Solar System
The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
.
See also
*
Dione Nunataks
*
Gannon Nunataks
*
Hyperion Nunataks
Nunataks of Alexander Island
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