Abstract
The topographic features on Venus are named with female names: craters and paterae have names of famous women as well as female first names, non-crater features have names of mythological characters. The first 80 names appeared on the maps after the Pioneer Venus mission; about 300 more names after the Venera 15 and 16 missions. 376 features of 17 types are now named. All the names are listed with their coordinates and attribute data. A large number of new names will be necessary after the MAGELLAN mission when detailed maps will be produced for nearly the whole surface of Venus.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
IAU: 1980, 'Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature', in 17th General Assembly, Montreal, 1979, Proceedings: International Astronomical Union Transactions, Vol. 17B, pp. 293–297.
IAU: 1983, 'Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature', in 18th General Assembly, Patras, 1982, Proceedings: International Astronomical Union Transactions, Vol. 18B, pp. 332–334.
IAU: 1986, 'Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature', in 19th General Assembly, New Delhi, 1985, Proceedings: International Astronomical Union Transactions, Vol. 19B, pp. 342–346.
U.S. Geological Survey: 1989, 'Topographic map of part of the northern hemisphere of Venus, scale 1:15,000,000', Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2041, sheet 1.
Burba, G. A.: 1988, Nomenclatura detaley rel'efa Venery [The Venus topographic features nomenclature] (in Russian), Nauka, Moscow, 64 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
'Geology and Tectonics of Venus', special issue edited by Alexander T. Basilevsky (USSR Acad. of Sci., Moscow), James W. Head (Brown University, Providence), Gordon H. Pettengill (MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts) and R. S. Saunders (J.P.L., Pasadena).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Burba, G.A. Names on the maps of Venus: A pre-MAGELLAN review. Earth Moon Planet 50, 541–558 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142406
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142406