Stickney Crater Honors Phobos Discoverer Asaph Hall’s First Wife

Summary: Stickney Crater honors Phobos discoverer Asaph Hall’s first wife, American mathematician Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall.

image of Stickney Crater, with Limtoc Crater inside (top center), obtained March 23, 2008, from a distance of 6,800 kilometers (about 4,200 miles), by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera; HiRISE catalog no. PSP_007769_9010; NASA ID PIA10368; image addition date 2008-04-09: image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal

Stickney Crater honors Phobos discoverer Asaph Hall’s first wife, American mathematician Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, who had been Hall’s college mathematics teacher.

Chloe Angeline Stickney (Nov. 1, 1830-July 3, 1892) was known by her middle name. She was born in Rodman, Jefferson County, northeastern New York, to carpenter Theophilus Stickney and his wife, Electa Cook Stickney. As the couple’s sixth child, she was preceded by two brothers, who died in infancy, and three older sisters, Charlotte, Elmina and Mary.

Angeline entered New York Central College at McGrawville, Cortland County, New York, in May 1852. Her course of study included German; Greek; mathematics, including calculus, mathematical astronomy and surveying; and philosopy.

During her junior year, Angeline taught mathematics at the college. In fall 1854, newly arrived student Asaph Hall III (Oct. 15, 1829-Nov. 22, 1907) enrolled in Angeline’s geometry class.

Angeline received her bachelor’s degree in July 1855. Asaph Hall married Angeline, whom he nicknamed “Angie,” Monday morning, March 31, 1856, in Elkhorn, Walworth County, southeastern Wisconsin.

In August 1877, Asaph Hall discovered Mars’ two moons. In his announcement, published in 1878, Hall credited his successful discoveries to his wife’s enthusiasm for her husband’s work. He explained: “. . . the chance of finding a satellite appeared to be very slight, so that I might abandoned the search had it not been for the encouragement of my wife” (page 5).

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, maintains the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature website. The website’s History of Planetary Nomenclature page notes that in 1970 the IAU formed the Working Group on Martian Nomenclature. As President of Commission 16, Physics of the Planets, John Scoville Hall (June 20, 1908-Oct. 15, 1991) appointed the new group during the IAU’s XIVth General Assembly, which was held in Brighton, England, from Tuesday, Aug. 18, to Thursday, Aug. 27. An article published in the September 1975 issue of Icarus by the 11-member group, explains that a subcommittee, chaired by American astronomer and cosmologist Carl Edward Sagan (Nov. 9, 1934-Dec. 20, 1996), was tasked with naming craters on Phobos.

Stickney Crater is the largest crater on Phobos, the innermost and larger of the Red Planet’s two natural satellites. The prominent crater is centered at 1 degree north latitude and 49 degrees west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 22 degrees north and minus 20 degrees south, respectively. As a western hemisphere crater, Stickney’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 28 degrees west and 70 degrees west, respectively. The crater’s diameter spans 9 kilometers.

A small crater, Limtoc, lies within Stickney. Limtoc’s namesake is General Limtoc, a character in Gulliver’s Travels by Anglo-Irish writer and Dean of Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral Jonathan Swift (Nov. 30, 1667-Oct. 19, 1745).

Limtoc’s center latitude is minutes 11 degrees south. Its center longitude is 54 degrees west. As a southern hemisphere crater, Limtoc’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to minus 6 degrees south and minus 16 degrees south, respectively. As a western hemisphere crater, Limtoc’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 48 degrees west and 60 degrees west, respectively. The small crater has a diameter of 2 kilometers.

Limtoc and Stickney number among 17 officially named craters on Phobos. In 1973, the IAU’s XVth General Assembly, held in Sydney, Australia, from Tuesday, Aug. 21, to Thursday, Aug. 30, approved Stickney as the official name of the largest Phobosian crater.

The takeaways for Stickney Crater’s namesake, Phobos discoverer Asaph Hall’s first wife, Chloe Angeline “Angie” Stickney Hall, are that American astronomer and cosmologist Carl Sagan chaired the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) subcommittee on naming craters on Mars’ innermost, larger moon and that American astronomer Asaph Hall credited his success to his wife’s enthusiastic support.

Chloe Angeline “Angie” Stickney Hall in 1878, the year after the discovery of Mars’ two moons, Deimos and Phobos, by her husband, American astronomer Asaph Hall III; Angelo Hall, An Astronomer’s Wife (1908), opposite page 104: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

image of Stickney Crater, with Limtoc Crater inside (top center), obtained March 23, 2008, from a distance of 6,800 kilometers (about 4,200 miles), by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera; HiRISE catalog no. PSP_007769_9010; NASA ID PIA10368; image addition date 2008-04-09: image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10368;
Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stickney_mro.jpg

Chloe Angeline “Angie” Stickney Hall in 1878, the year after the discovery of Mars’ two moons, Deimos and Phobos, by her husband, American astronomer Asaph Hall III; Angelo Hall, An Astronomer’s Wife (1908), opposite page 104: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/astronomerswifeb00hall/page/n116

For further information:

Andover-Harvard Theological Library. “4th row #13: Angelo Hall.” Harvard Divinity School Andover-Harvard Theological Library > Exhibits > HDS at the Turn of the 20th Century > Students > The School Gathers in 1895.
Available @ https://library.hds.harvard.edu/exhibits/hds-20th-century/hds-1895

Born, G. (George) H.; and T. (Thomas) C. Duxbury. “The Motions of Phobos and Deimos From Mariner 9 TV Data.” Celestial Mechanics, vol. 12, issue 1 (August 1975): 77-88.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1975CeMec..12...77B
Available @ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01228626

Contopoulos, G. (George); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XVth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XV B Proceedings of the 15th General Assembly and Extraordinary General Assembly Sydney, Australia, August 21-30, 1973. Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1974.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

de Jager, C. (Cornelius); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XIVth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XIV B Proceedings of the 14th General Assembly, Brighton, United Kingdom, August 18-27, 1970. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

de Vaucouleurs, G. (Gérard); J. (Jürgen) Blunck; M. (Morton E.) Davies; A. (Audouin) Dollfus; I.K. (Ivan Kirillovich) Koval; G.P. (Gerard Peter) Kuiper; H. (Harold) Masursky; S. (Shotaro) Miyamoto; V.I. (Vasily Ivanovich) Moroz; Carl Sagan; and Bradford (Adelbert) Smith. “The New Martian Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union.” Icarus, vol. 26, issue 1 (September 1975): 85-98.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Icar...26...85D
Available via Planetologia @ http://planetologia.elte.hu/ipcd/vaucouleurs.pdf
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103575901463?via%3Dihub

Hall, A. (Asaph). “Note on the Perturbations of Flora by Mars and the Earth, and on Brünnow’s Tables.” Astronomical Journal, no. 301; vol. XIII, no. 13 (Aug. 11, 1893): 111-112. Boston MA.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=eQY-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA111

Hall, Angelo. An Astronomer’s Wife: The Biography of Angeline Hall. Baltimore MD: Nunn & Company, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/astronomerswifeb00hall/

Hall, Asaph. Observations and Orbits of the Satellites of Mars, With Data for Ephemerides in 1879. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1878.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1878USNOM..15D...1H

Hill, George William. Biographical Memoir of Asaph Hall 1829-1907. Read before the National Academy of Sciences April 23, 1908. National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs, vol. VI: 241-349. Washington DC: The National Academy of Sciences, 1909.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/biographicalmemo011929mbp/
Available via NAS Online @ http://nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/hall-asaph.pdf

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “History of Planetary Nomenclature.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/History

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Limtoc.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14262

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Stickney.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5707

Maley, Paul D. “Asaph Hall Residence: JSCAS -- Making History in Washington DC August 2005.” Eclipse Tours > Paul D. Maley > Historical Markers/Plaques That I Have Established.
Available @ http://eclipsetours.com/paul-maley/asaph-hall-residence/

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “PIA10368: Phobos From 6,800 Kilometers (Color).” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology. Image addition date: 2008-04-09.
Available @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10368

U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center. “New Names for Phobos.” Map a Planet 2 (MAP2) > News > Nomenclature News. Dec. 4, 2006.
Available @ https://www.mapaplanet.org/news/nomenclature/new-names-for-phobos

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Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974Icar...23..206V
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103574900062?via%3Dihub

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