![]() Astrogeology Research Program |
![]() |
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |
Home |
Names adopted by the IAU must follow various rules and conventions established and amended through the years by the Union. These include:
In addition to these general rules, each task group develops additional conventions as it formulates an interesting and meaningful nomenclature for individual planetary bodies. Most of these conventions are self evident from study of the appendixes that follow.
Names for all planetary features include a descriptor term (Descriptor Terms), with a few exceptions. For craters, the descriptor term is implicit. Some features named on Io and Triton do not carry a descriptor term because they are ephemeral.
In general, the naming convention for a feature type remains the same regardless of its size. Exceptions to this rule are channels (valles) on Mars and craters on the Moon, Mars, and Venus; naming conventions for these features differ according to size. The categories for naming features on each planet or satellite (and the exceptions) are listed in Categories for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites. One feature classification, regio, was originally used on early maps of the Moon and Mercury (drawn from telescopic observations) to describe vague albedo features. It is now also used to delineate a broad geographic region.
Named features on bodies so small that coordinates have not yet been determined are identified on drawings or images of the body that are included in the IAU Transactions volume of the year when the names were adopted. Satellite rings and gaps in the rings are named for scientists who have studied these features; drawings that show these names are also included in the pertinent Transactions volume. Names for atmospheric features are informal at present; a formal system will be chosen in the future.
The boundaries of many large features (such as terrae, regiones, planitiae, and plana) are not topographically or geomorphically distinct; the coordinates of these features are identified from an arbitrarily chosen center point. Boundaries (and thus coordinates) may be determined more accurately from geochemical and geophysical data obtained by future missions.
During active missions, small surface features are often given informal names. These may include landing sites and small topographic features, such as craters, hills, and rocks. Such names will not be given official status by the IAU, except as provided for by Rule 2 above. As for the larger objects, official names for any such small features would have to conform to established IAU rules and categories.
When a satellite has been discovered through the efforts of a large scientific team, the list of individual team members may be too long to include all contributors. In such cases, credit for the discovery will go to the science team.