Verdi is an impact crater on the planet

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 ...

. It was named after Italian Romantic composer

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

(1813–1901) in 1979, as recognized by the International Astronomical Union. The crater's extensive ejecta blanket and secondary crater field are superposed on plains materials and older craters. Verdi lies in the northern section of the

Shakespeare quadrangle The Shakespeare quadrangle is a region of Mercury running from 90 to 180° longitude and 20 to 70° latitude. It is also called Caduceata. The Borealis quadrangle is north of Shakespeare quadrangle. To the west is Raditladi quadrangle, and to t ...

and is relatively large for a Mercurian crater, with a low rim and shallow floor. The crater has a diameter of about , although estimates of its size have varied. Like its neighbour, Brahms, Verdi is "a complex crater with a central peak and

terraced walls A terraced wall, also a terrace wall, or a terraced retaining wall is a wall that is divided into sections (Terrace (earthworks), terraces) over a slope. Such designs are useful when building on a steep Grade (slope), grade. Terraced walls may b ...

" and has several secondary craters. Another key feature of the crater is its discontinuous inner rings. Verdi was first imaged by ''

Mariner 10 ''Mariner 10'' was an American Robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe launched by NASA on 3 November 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury (planet), Mercury and Venus. It was the first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets. ''Ma ...

'', a robotic space probe launched in the early 1970s to survey Venus and Mercury. Verdi and most of the planet's other craters were photographed in 2011 by the ''

MESSENGER ''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geoche ...

'' mission, a probe sent by NASA to orbit and photograph the planet. Verdi is one of several craters on Mercury named after famous

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

s. Other examples in the Shakespeare quadrangle include Brahms (after

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

), Scarlatti (after

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the deve ...

), and Couperin (after Francois Couperin). A number of Mercurian craters are named after historic cultural figures from different fields, including literature, philosophy, and art, but others feature names from popular culture, including Walt Disney ( Disney crater) and Muddy Waters ( Waters crater). File:Mariner 10 image 0000166.png,

image with Verdi crater near center File:Verdi crater EW0215589743G.jpg, Oblique view File:Verdi crater hollows EN1007560284M.map.jpg, Verdi crater hollows

References

{{Mercury (planet) Impact craters on Mercury Giuseppe Verdi