Victoria Quadrangle is Second of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface

Summary: Victoria Quadrangle is second of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and covers northern middle latitudes longitudinally between 0 and 90 degrees.

Incomplete map of Borealis Region presents area of north polar region illuminated during Mariner 10 encounters; Geologic Map of the Borealis Region of Mercury (1984) by Maurice J. Grolier and Joseph M. Boyce, prepared on behalf of the Planetary Geology Program, Planetary Division, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: courtesy of U.S. Geological Service, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's data portal, Astropedia

Victoria Quadrangle is the second of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and references the Swift Planet's northern middle latitudes between 0 and 90 degrees west longitude.

As the second of Mercury's 15 quadrangles, Victoria Quadrangle bears the letter-number designation of H-2 or H02. The letter H represents Hermes, Greek mythology's equivalent of Roman mythology's Mercury.

According to planetary geologist George E. (Emmert) McGill and lunar and space geologist Elbert A. (Aubrey) King's Geologic Map of the Victoria Quadrangle, published in 1983, the northern midlatitude region's provisional name was Aurora Albedo Province. The provisional name references Aurora, the bright-albedo feature appearing in the quadrangle's eastern half. Greek French astronomer Eugène Michel Antoniadi (March 1, 1870-Feb. 10, 1944) depicted Aurora with a latitudinal stretch of 20 degrees north to 50 degrees north on the map of Mercury's albedo features in his guide, La Planète Mercure, published in 1934 and translated into English by English amateur astronomer Sir Patrick Moore (March 4, 1923-Dec. 9, 2012) in 1974 (figure 5, page 26).

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved Victoria as the quadrangle's official name in 1976. A quadrangle's name derives from one of the area's prominent features. Victoria Quadrangle's namesake is Victoria Rupes, a scarp, or long cliff, in northeastern Victoria. The IAU convention requires naming rupes (Latin: rūpēs, "cliff, escarpment") after "ships of discovery or scientific expeditions," according to the IAU's U.S.G.S. (U.S. Geological Survey) Astrogeology Science Center-maintained, online Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

Victoria Rupes, officially approved in 1976, honors the first ship to circumnavigate the Earth, Aug. 10, 1519-Sept. 6, 1522. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães; Feb. 4, 1480-April 27, 1521) commanded the Victoria until his murder, during the voyage, in the Philippines in the Battle of Mactan. Castilian-Basque explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano (misspelled as Del Cano;[ ca. 1486-Aug. 4, 1526) commanded the last portion of the voyage from eastern Indonesia's Moluccas to southern Spain's Sanlúcar de Barrameda, located in northwestern Cádiz province in the now-Autonomous Community of Andalucía. The ship's name eponymized Santa María de la Victoria de Triana, the church in Seville where Magellan pledged allegiance to the historical expedition's sponsor, Carlos I, King of Spain (Feb. 24, 1500-Sept. 21, 1558), who became Carlos V, Holy Roman Emperor, on June 28, 1519.

Victoria Rupes is centered at 52.71 degrees north latitude, 34.16 degrees west longitude, according to the IAU's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The north-south trending scarp posts northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 56.4 degrees north and 48.73 degrees north, respectively. It marks its easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 33.55 degrees west and 36.14 degrees west, respectively. Victoria Rupes spans 347 kilometers.

Victoria Rupes winds to the west of Borealis Planitia (Northern Plain) in northeastern Victoria Quadrangle. Borealis Planitia, namesake of Mercury's first quadrangle, Borealis, extends into Victoria's northeastern corner and continues along the quadrangle's eastern edge through Victoria's southeastern corner.

In their 1983 Geologic Map of the Victoria Quadrangle of Mercury, McGill and King recognized intercrater plains material, intermediate plains material and smooth plains material as the quadrangle's "three widespread units." As the oldest unit, the intercrater plains material exhibits a very high concentration of largely worn, small craters on an irregular-to-roughened terrain. Smooth textures and low crater density typify the youngest unit, smooth plains material. McGill and King characterized intermediate plains material as having a "relatively low albedo and . . . numerous elongate ridges."

Although associated with intermediate plains material, ridges cross into adjacent intercrater plains material. Also, smooth plains material may border elongate ridges and scarps. An offset of seemingly smooth plains material on crater floors by scarps may have occurred in craters such as Gluck.

The IAU adopts names of historically significant artists, authors, musicians and painters for Mercury's craters. Gluck Crater honors German classical composer Christoph von Gluck (July 2, 1714-Nov. 15, 1787). The IAU officially approved the crater's name in 1979.

Gluck Crater lies to the east and northeast of Borealis Planitia's occupancy of southeastern Victoria Quadrangle. Gluck Crater is centered at 37.95 degrees north latitude, 18.78 degrees west longitude. The Mercurian northern hemisphere midlatitude crater establishes northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 39.13 degrees north and 36.77 degrees north, respectively. The southeastern Victoria crater obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 17.28 degrees west and 20.28 degrees west, respectively. Gluck Crater's diameter spans 100 kilometers.

As the second of Mercury's 15 mapping quadrangles, Victoria Quadrangle shares its northern border with the north polar region's Borealis Quadrangle. Hokusai Quadrangle (H05) borders Victoria Quadrangle's eastern edge. Victoria Quadrangle establishes its southern contiguity with Kuiper Quadrange (H06) and Beethoven Quadrangle (H07). Shakespeare Quadrangle (H03) neighbors to the west of Victoria Quadrangle.

The takeaways for Victoria Quadrangle as the second of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface are that the quadrangle covers one-fourth of the Swift Planet's northern middle latitudes; that the quadrangle's namesake, Victoria Rupes, eponymizes Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan's Earth-circumnavigating ship, Victoria; that Victoria Rupes trends north-south to the east of Borealis Planitia in northeastern Victoria Quadrangle; and that Victoria Quadrangle neighbors with Borealis Planitia to the north, Hokusai Quadrangle to the east, Kuiper and Beethoven quadrangles to the south and Shakespeare Quadrangle to the west.

Detail of Map of the H-2 (Victoria) Quadrangle of Mercury shows north-south trending Victoria Rupes (center) to the east of Borealis Planitia (upper right) in Victoria Quadrangle's southeastern corner; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/USGS: courtesy IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Incomplete map of Borealis Region presents area of north polar region illuminated during Mariner 10 encounters; Geologic Map of the Borealis Region of Mercury (1984) by Maurice J. Grolier and Joseph M. Boyce, prepared on behalf of the Planetary Geology Program, Planetary Division, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: courtesy of U.S. Geological Service, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's data portal, Astropedia, @ https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mercury/Geology/Mercury-Geologic-Map-of-the-Borealis-Region and via U.S. Geological Service's Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1660

Detail of Map of the H-2 (Victoria) Quadrangle of Mercury shows north-south trending Victoria Rupes (center) to the east of Borealis Planitia (upper right) in Victoria Quadrangle's southeastern corner; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/USGS: courtesy IAU/USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/H-2.pdf

For further information:

Antoniadi, E.M. (Eugène Michel). La Planète Mercure et la Rotation des Satellites. Paris, France: Gauthier-Villars, 1934.

Davies, Merton E.; Stephen E. Dwornik; Donald E. Gault; and Robert G. Strom. Atlas of Mercury. Special Publication SP-423. Prepared for the Office of Space Sciences. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-423/

Davies, Merton E.; Stephen E. Dwornik; Donald E. Gault; and Robert G. Strom. "H-2 Victoria Quadrangle." Atlas of Mercury: 32-39. Special Publication SP-423. Prepared for the Office of Space Sciences. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-423/h2.htm

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Borealis Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated April 17, 2018.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/823

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Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Categories

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Coordinate Systems for Planets and Satellites.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Target Coordinate Systems.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/TargetCoordinates

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Descriptor Terms (Feature Types).” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Descriptor Terms.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/DescriptorTerms

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Gluck.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2194

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Target: Mercury.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MERCURY/target

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Victoria Rupes.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6379

Lunar and Planetary Institute. "Mercury Map Catalog." Lunar and Planetary Institute > Resources.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mercury_maps/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Borealis Quadrangle Is First of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/borealis-quadrangle-is-first-of-15.html

McGill, George E. (Emmert); and Elbert A. (Aubrey) King. Geologic Map of the Victoria Quadrangle of Mercury. IMAP 1409. H-2. Atlas of Mercury 1:5,000,000 Geologic Series. Prepared for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, Nov. 22, 1983.
Available via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Astropedia Web Portal @ https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mercury/Geology/Mercury-Geologic-Map-of-the-Victoria-Quadrangle
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1409

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Müller, E.A. (Edith A); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. IAU Transactions: XVI B Proceedings of the XVIth General Assembly Grenoble, France, August 24-September 21, 1976. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1977.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

U.S. Geological Survey. Shaded Relief Map of the Victoria Quadrangle of Mercury (Aurora Albedo Province). IMAP 1057 H-2. Atlas of Mercury 1:5,000,000 Topographic Series. Prepared on behalf of the Planetology Programs Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, Oct. 16, 1977.
Available via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Astropedia Web Portal @ https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mercury/Topography/Mercury-Shaded-Relief-Map-of-the-Victoria-Quadrangle
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1057

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