Tombaugh is an impact crater on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, located in the

Elysium quadrangle The Elysium quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Elysium quadrangle is also referred to as MC-15 (Mars Chart-15). The name Elysium r ...

. It measures in diameter and was named after Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (1906–1997), who discovered the dwarf planet

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

. The name was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006. Wikitombaughwest.jpg, West side of Tombaugh crater, as seen by CTX camera on MRO.

References

See also