Earth and Space News

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Raditladi Quadrangle Is Fourth of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface

Summary: Raditladi Quadrangle is the fourth of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and covers northern midlatitudes longitudinally from 180 to 270 degrees.

Raditladi Quadrangle residents Raditladi Crater (upper left), Cunningham, Kertész and Sander craters (upper center) and Apollodorus and Atget craters and Phantheon Fossae (upper right); name-labeled mosaic of Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images shows 12 features imaged for first time via MESSENGER's first flyby Jan. 14, 2008, and announced April 9, 2008, via USGS Astrogeology Science Center as officially named and three craters (Basho in Michelangelo Quadrangle H-12; Mozart and Tolstoj in Tolstoj Quadrangle H-8) first seen by Mariner 10 mission; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington; uploaded May 2, 2008, by Bryan Derksen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Raditladi Quadrangle is the fourth of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and references the Swift Planet's low and middle latitudes of 21 to 66 degrees north latitude, from 180 to 270 degrees west longitude.

As the fourth of Mercury's 15 quadrangles, Raditladi Quadrangle has the letter-number designation of H-4 or H04. H denotes Hermes, Greek mythology's equivalent of Roman mythology's Mercurius.

Raditladi Quadrangle's provisional name, Liguria, reflects on Italy's northwest region and derives from the ancient, mysterious Ligures people, whose territory once included northwestern Italy, southern France and part of modern Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Greek French astronomer Greek French astronomer Eugène Michel Antoniadi (March 1, 1870-Feb. 10, 1944) centered Liguria at approximately 40 degrees north latitude 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).

Mercury's quadrangles conventionally derive their names from prominent features. Raditladi Quadrangle's namesake is Raditladi Crater. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has established names of historically significant artists, authors, musicians and painters as the theme for Mercury's craters, according to the IAU's U.S.G.S. (U.S. Geological Survey) Astrogeology Science Center-maintained, online Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Raditladi Crater received IAU approval on April 8, 2008, as the Mercurian namesake of Botswanan playwright and poet Leetile Disang Raditladi (1910-1971).

Raditladi Crater is centered at 27.15 degrees north latitude, 240.94 degrees west longitude, according to the IAU's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern low latitude crater obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 30.17 degrees north and 24.12 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 237.54 degrees west and 244.34 degrees west, respectively. Raditladi Crater's diameter measures 258 kilometers.

In their presentation, "The Curious Case of Raditladi Basin," at the 40th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held Monday, March 23, to Friday, March 27, 2009, Planetary scientist Louise M. Procktor and 11 co-authors described Raditladi Crater as distinguished structurally by an off-center peak-ring with a diameter of approximately 125 kilometers. Extensional (pulled-apart) troughs that occur as a partially concentric, circularly-patterned complex within the peak-ring structure qualify as a rarity on the Mercurian surface. The distinctive flat floors exhibited in some of the troughs are considered as graben (German: "ditch"), depressed blocks of planetary or satellite crust.

Raditladi Crater lies to the west of Caloris Planitia (Hot Plain). The IAU approved the name of southeastern Raditladi Quadrangle's huge plain in 1976 as one of two exceptions (Borealis Planitia, "Northern Plain") to the convention of assigning names of Mercury, as god or planet, in various languages to the Swift Planets plains (Latin: planitiae). In addition to its Raditladi occupancy, Caloris Planitia extends into Shakespeare Quadrangle to the east and Tolstoj Quadrangle to the south.

Caloris Planitia is centered at 31.65 degrees north latitude, 198.02 degrees west longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to 48.6 degrees north and 15.54 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 176.3 degrees west and 217.97 degrees west, respectively. Caloris Planitia's diameter spans 1,500 kilometers.

Raditladi Quadrangle lies to the south of northern polar region's Borealis Quadrangle (H-1). Shakespeare Quadrangle (H-3) and Hokusai Quadrangle (H-5) occur as Raditladi Quadrangle's eastern and western neighbors, respectively. Raditladi Quadrangle shares its southern borders with Tolstoj Quadrangle (H-8) and Eminescu Quadrangle (H-9).

Raditladi Quadrangle numbers among the six Mercurian quadrangles not imaged by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mariner 10 mission. The five other quadrangles not covered by Mariner 10 were Raditladi's western neighbor, Hokusai (H-5); Raditladi's southwestern neighbor, Eminescu (H-9); Hokusai's southern neighbor, Derain (H-10); Derain's southeastern neighbor, Debussy (H-14); and Eminescu's southern neighbor, Neruda (H-13). Images obtained from the robotic space probe's three flybys (March 29, 1974; Sept. 21, 1974; March 16, 1975) allowed mapping of nine of the 15 quadrangles that abstractly divide Mercury's surface. MESSENGER robotic space probe's explorations of Mercury removed the mapping gaps via one primary mission, beginning April 4, 2011, and two extensions.

The takeaways for Raditladi Quadrangle as the fourth of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface are that the quadrangle's namesake is Botswanan playwright-honoring Raditladi Crater; that Raditladi Crater exhibits a rare feature, partially-concentric, circularly-patterned troughs thought to be graben, in its off center peak-ring structure; that the quadrangle was identified as Liguria Albedo Province in Greek-French astronomer E.M. Antoniadi's 1934 Mercury guidebook; and that Raditladi Quadrangle shares borders with northern neighbor Borealis Quadrangle, eastern neighbor Shakespeare Quadrangle, southern neighbors Tolstoj and Eminescu quadrangles, and western neighbor Hokusai Quadrangle.

Raditladi Qudrangle's namesake, off-center peak-ringed Raditladi Crater (upper left) was discovered in 3x3 mosaic of three images obtained by the Mercury Dual Imaging System's (MDIS) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) during MESSENGER robotic space probe's first Mercury flyby Jan. 14, 2008; mosaic presents first-ever view of area not covered by NASA's 1974-1975 Mariner 10 mission; credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

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

Baker, David M.H.; James W.Head; Samuel C.Schon; Carolyn M.Ernst; Louise M.Prockter; Scott L.Murchie; Brett W.Denevi; Sean C.Solomon; Robert G.Strom. "The Transition From Complex Crater to Peak-Ring Basin on Mercury: New Observations From MESSENGER Flyby Data and Constraints on Basin Formation Models." Planetary and Space Science, vol. 59, issue 15 (December 2011): 1932-1948.
Available @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003206331100167X?via%3Dihub

Blewett, David T., Carolyn M. Ernst; Scott L. Murchie; and Faith Vilas. "Chapter 12: Mercury's Hollows." Pages 324-345. In Sean C. Solomon; Larry R. Nittler; and Brian J. Anderson, eds., Mercury: The View After MESSENGER. Cambridge Planetary Science. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=4o92DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA324

Campbell, Paulette. "Mercury Features Receive New Names." The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory > News & Publications > News. April 28, 2008.
Available @ https://www.jhuapl.edu/PressRelease/080428

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/

Dzurisin, Daniel. "Mercurian Bright Patches: Evidence for Physio-Chemical Alteration of Surface Material?" Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 4, issue 10 (October 1977) 383-386. DOI: 10.1029/GL004i010p00383
Available via Wiley Online Library @ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/GL004i010p00383

Head, James W. Head; Scott L. Murchie; Louise M. Prockter; Sean C. Solomon; Robert G. Strom; Clark R. Chapman; Thomas R. Watters; David T. Blewett; J.J. Gillis-Davis; Caleb I. Fassett; James L. Dickson; Debra M. Hurwitz; and Lillian R. Ostracha. "Evidence for Intrusive Activity on Mercury From the First MESSENGER Flyby." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 285, issues 3-4 (Aug. 15, 2009): 251-262.
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X09001514?via%3Dihub

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Caloris Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated May 25, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/979

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Categories (Themes) for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Documentation > Surface Feature Categories.
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. “Raditladi.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 12, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14387

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

Lakdawalla, Emily. "What Are Mercury's Hollows?" The Planetary Society > Explore Space > Articles. Feb. 18, 2014.
Available @ https://www.planetary.org/articles/02171332-what-are-mercurys-hollows

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

Marriner, Derdriu. "Mercury's Munch Crater Honors Norwegian Painter Edvard Munch." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/mercurys-munch-crater-honors-norwegian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Mercury's Poe Crater Honors American Poet and Writer Edgar Allan Poe." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/mercurys-poe-crater-honors-american.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Shakespeare Quadrangle Is Third of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/shakespeare-quadrangle-is-third-of-15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Victoria Quadrangle is Second of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/victoria-quadrangle-is-second-of-15.html

MESSENGER. "Double Ring Crater." Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) MESSNEGER > Explore. Jan. 30, 2008.
Available @ https://messenger.jhuapl.edu/Explore/Science-Images-Database/gallery-image-154.html

MESSENGER. "New Names for Features on Mercury." Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) MESSENGER > Explore. April 28, 2008.
Available @ https://messenger.jhuapl.edu/Explore/Science-Images-Database/gallery-image-181.html

Nemiroff, Robert; and Jerry Bonnell. "Unusual Hollows Discovered on Planet Mercury." NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day. March 27, 2012.
Available @ https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120327.html

Prockter, Louise M.; Thomas R. Watters; Clark R. Chapman; Brett W. Denev; James W. Head III; Sean C. Solomon; Scott L. Murchie1; Olivier S. Barnouin-Jha; Mark S. Robinson; David T. Blewett; Jeffrey Gillis-Davis; and Robert W. Gaskell. "The Curious Case of Raditladi Basin." 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 23-27, 2009, The Woodlands, Texas.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2009/pdf/1758.pdf

Robinson, Mark S. Robinson; Scott L. Murchie; David T. Blewett; Deborah L. Domingue; S. Edward Hawkins III; James W. Head; Gregory M. Holsclaw; William E. McClintock; Timothy J. McCoy; Ralph L. McNutt Jr.; Louise M. Prockter; Sean C. Solomon; and Thomas R. Watters. "Reflectance and Color Variations on Mercury: Regolith Processes and Compositional Heterogeneity." Science, vol. 321, issue 5885 (July 04, 2008): 66-69 DOI: 10.1126/science.1160080
Available @ https://science.sciencemag.org/content/321/5885/66

Strom, Robert G.; Clark R. Chapman; William J. Merline; Sean C. Solomon; and James W. Head. "Mercury Cratering Record Viewed From MESSENGER's First Flyby." Science, vol. 321, issue 5885 (July 4, 2008): 79-81. DOI: 10.1126/science.1159317
Available @ https://science.sciencemag.org/content/321/5885/79

U.S.G.S. Astrogeology Science Center. "Twelve New Names and a New Theme for Fossae Approved for Use on Mercury." USGS Astrogeology Science Center > News > Nomenclature News. April 9, 2008.
Available via USGS Astrogeology Science Center's Astropedia Web Portal @ https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/news/nomenclature/twelve-new-names-and-a-new-theme-for-fossae-approved-for-use-on-mercury

Friday, February 7, 2014

Dimetrodon Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dimetrodon

Summary: Dimetrodon natural history illustrations manage accurate assemblies of fossils that Elementary episode Dead Clade Walking Jan. 30, 2014, mixed criminally.

Dimetrodon is an extinct genus of pre-dinosaur reptile with a prominent sail of bony spines protruding from spinal vertebrae; in Elementary tv series' Dead Clade Walking (season 2 episode 14), Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) and Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) discern that Agnes, Dr. Jeffrey Thomas' (Jonno Roberts) so-called complete Dimetrodon skelton at the Triboro Museum of Natural History, is "fraudulent," as an assemblage of bones from various fossils: U of T Palaeontology @UofT_Palaeo, via Twitter April 15, 2013

Dimetrodon natural history illustrations atypically aggrieve their admirers, unlike museum adherents who are apprised of the non-authentic assembly of a specimen in the Elementary series episode Dead Clade Walking Jan. 3, 2014.

Director Helen Shaver and writers Robert Doherty and Jeffrey Paul King broach black market and dark web sales of fossils as complete specimens and detached bones. Illegal commerce catches Doug Newberg's and Malcolm Turner's killer (Jonno Roberts), who constructed the world-only complete Dimetrodon with the atlas/axis, humerus and phalange from other specimens. Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) discerns in the deceptive Dimetrodon specimen display dastardly deeds behind debunking and defending different theories on ancient mass extinctions and survivals.

Cursory examinations of Dimetrodon natural history illustrations and Elementary's Dimetrodon specimen encourage observers to envision the extinct animal as examples of Triassic through Cretaceous Period dinosaurs.

Paleoartists fit, into Dimetrodon natural history illustrations, extinct animals whose life cycles filled other times than when dinosaurs flourished 243 million to 66 million years ago.

The most recent, youngest Dimetrodon fossils gave out 40 million years before the earliest, most ancient records of the Triassic Period's first, most primitive, oldest dinosaurs. The Dimetrodon genus, with the English equivalent of "two measures of teeth," had initial appearances 295 million years ago and their last 272 million years ago. Twenty-five million years of hunting, mating, parenting and sheltering itineraries involved what is now the southwestern United States' Red Beds of south-central Oklahoma and north-central Texas.

Dimetrodon natural history illustrations juggle the declining amphibians and the rising reptiles that journeyed over red sandstones and shales during the Permian Period's most recent, third Cisuralian epoch.

Southwestern Dimetrodon specimens from Oklahoma and Texas historically kindle Dimetrodon natural history illustations by paleoartists for paleobiologists and paleozoologists even though Germany keeps some fossilized Dimetrodons.

Paleobiologists, paleotaxonomists and paleozoologists list 1877 and 1878 as first-known years of Linnaean scientific classifications, by Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840-April 12, 1897), of Dimetrodons. Dimeotrodon natural history illustrations manifest a mature animal with 5.57- to 15.09-foot (1.7- to 4.6-meter) body lengths and 61.73- to 551.16-pound (28- to 250-kilogram) body weights. Dimetrodon angelensis (Texas's San Angelo Formation) and Dimeotrodon teutones ("teutonic") species net higher and lower ranges, with the latter's smallest-ever a rare 24-inch- (60-centimeter-) long fossil.

Dimetrodon natural history illustrations observe occurrences in the Synapsidae ("fused arch") mammal and mammal-like reptile clade, not the Sauropsidae ("lizard-like") bird, dinosaur and reptile evolutionary group.

Dimetrodons each possessed a curved, tall skull with a bony arch under, and one temporal fenestra ("opening") behind, each eye, different-sized large teeth and four legs.

Dimetrodons qualified as apex predators of ancient amphibians, fish, reptiles and tetrapods and queued up elongated, large neural spines into a vertebra-extending sail along the back. Responsibility for realizing courtship displays, stabilizing the spine and thermoregulating (cooling and heating) the body represent reasons that paleobiologists and paleozoologists reach for the Dimetrodon sail. Ann Arbor's University of Michigan, Chicago's Field and Manhattan's American Museums of Natural History and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science show mounted Dimeotrodon skeletons.

Nothing tells Elementary's Dimetrodon's gender whereas Dimetrodon natural history illustrations from large-sailed, long-skulled, thick-boned Dimetrodons with pronounced upper jaws in Illinois and New York typify males.

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) delve into the shadowy world of black market dinosaur fossils in Elementary tv series' Dead Clade Walking (season 2 episode 14): Lucy Liu @LucyLiu, via Twitter Jan. 30, 2014

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Dimetrodon is an extinct genus of pre-dinosaur reptile with a prominent sail of bony spines protruding from spinal vertebrae; in Elementary tv series' Dead Clade Walking (season 2 episode 14), Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) and Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) discern that Dr. Jeffrey Thomas' (Jonno Roberts) so-called completeDimetrodon skelton at the Triboro Museum of Natural History is "fraudulent," as an assemblage of bones from various fossils: U of T Palaeontology @UofT_Palaeo, via Twitter April 15, 2013, @ https://twitter.com/UofT_Palaeo/status/323794712949575680

Cope, E.D. (Edward Drinker). 2 November 1877. "Descriptions of Extinct Vertebrata From the Permian and Triassic Formations of the United States: Clepsydrops limbatus sp. nov." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. XVII , no. 100 (June-December 1877): 193. Philadelphia PA: Printed for The Society by M'Calla [McCalla] & Stavely, 1878.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26900529

Cope, E.D. (Edward Drinker). 5 April 1878. "Descriptions of Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia From the Permian Formation of Texas: Clepsydrops natalis. Sp. nov. . . Dimetrodon incisivus. Gen. et sp. nov. . . Dimetrodon rectiformis. Sp. nov. . . Dimetron gigas. Sp. nov." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. XVII, no. 101 (January-June 1878): 509-515. Philadelphia PA: Printed for The Society by M'Calla [McCalla] & Stavely.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26900869

Dead Clade Walking." Elementary: The Second Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Jan. 30, 2014.

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London England: George Newnes Ltd., 1892.

Lucy Liu ‏@LucyLiu. 30 January 2014. "Aanother guest on tonight's dead clade walking episode. this one was a real diva #elementary." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/LucyLiu/status/429110951208439808

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2014. “Nanotyrannus Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dead Clade Walking.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/nanotyrannus-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2013. “Fruit in Osage Orange Botanical Illustrations and Elementary Series.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/fruit-in-osage-orange-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2013. “George Stubbs Painting The Godolphin Arabian and Elementary's Nutmeg.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/george-stubbs-painting-godolphin.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Darley Arabian and Elementary's Studhorse.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-darley-arabian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Byerley Turk and Elementary's Thoroughbreds.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-byerley-turk-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 August 2013. “Turner Fighting Temeraire Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/turner-fighting-temeraire-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 June 2013. “Paul Gauguin Painting Tahitian Women on the Beach in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/paul-gauguin-painting-tahitian-women-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2013. “Rubens Painting The Incredulity of St Thomas in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/rubens-painting-incredulity-of-st.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 May 2013. “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Painting Rousse in Elementary Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-painting.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 May 2013. “The Bruegel Painted Parable in the Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-bruegel-painted-parable-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2013. “Osmia Avosetta Natural History Illustrations for Elementary's Bee.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/osmia-avosetta-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2013. “Russian Tortoise Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Clyde Jan. 31, 2013.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-tortoise-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2013. “Costliest, World-Most Expensive Chopard Watch: 201 Carats at $25 Million.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/costliest-world-most-expensive-chopard.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 January 2013. “Chopard Watch Worth $25 Million on Elementary Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/chopard-watch-worth-25-million-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2013. “Claude Monet Painting Nympheas 1918 in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/claude-monet-painting-nympheas-1918-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2013. “Paul Cézanne Still Life Painting Fruit in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/paul-cezanne-still-life-painting-fruit.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 December 2012. “Paul Signac Painting Women at the Well in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/paul-signac-painting-women-at-well-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 December 2012. “The Van Gogh Pietà Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-van-gogh-pieta-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2012. “Edward Hopper Painting Western Motel in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/edward-hopper-painting-western-motel-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 September 2012. "Are Lesser Clovers Sherlock's Lucky Shamrocks on Elementary's Pilot?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-lesser-clovers-sherlocks-lucky.html

U of T Palaeontology ‏@UofT_Palaeo. 15 April 2013. "Art in the @RoyalTyrrell hallway -- Dimetrodon and prey." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/UofT_Palaeo/status/323794712949575680

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Curious George Co-Creator Hans Rey Drew Gemini as Hand Holding Twins

Summary: Curious George co-creator Hans Rey drew Gemini as hand holding twins, not as the seated or strolling duo outlined in traditional depictions.

Curious George co-creator H.A. Rey’s redrawn Gemini the Twins constellation: AugPi, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Curious George co-creator Hans Rey drew Gemini as hand holding twins whose brotherly love is conveyed by clasped hands rather than by the close sitting or arm-in-arm strolling in traditional visualizations.

German-born American author and illustrator Hans Augusto “H.A. Rey” Reyersbach (Sept. 16, 1898-Aug. 26, 1977) created seven Curious George stories with his wife, Margarete “Margret” Elisabethe Waldstein Rey (May 16, 1906-Dec. 21, 1996). The husband-and-wife team produced the series of children’s picture books between 1941 and 1966.

Hans Rey included his interest in astronomy in his illustrations and writings. Rey felt that constellation guides were unhelpful in familiarizing constellations during his stargazing. He considered that the shapes yielded by traditional connections between stars difficultly and inaccurately suggested the constellations.

Rey’s dissatisfaction led him to revise a number of the 88 modern constellations. His intentions included enlivening the constellations and restoring enjoyment to starry observations.

Rey first presented his revised outlines in 1952 in The Stars: A New Way to See Them. He revisited his revisions in 1954 in Find the Constellations.

Rey found that constellation guides shape constellations allegorically or geometrically. Allegorical figures are decorative but confusing and unhelpful. His example of an allegorical drawing of Gemini fleshes out the constituent stars to depict strolling twins with their elbows interlocked. Geometrical figures may appear “at least rational” but fail to suggest the subject and pose difficulties in reconstructing their involved shapes in the nighttime sky. Rey’s example of a geometrical drawing of Gemini depicts a matchstick figure with connecting lines angling incomprehensibly.

Gemini the Twins constellation concerns Greek and Roman mythology’s twin half-brothers, Castor and Pollux. The twins have mythological associations with events precipitating the Bronze Age’s Trojan War and with the dichotomy of death and immortality.

The twins’ mythological profiles vary in the absence or presence of the gift of immortality. In some stories, Castor and Pollux share in the gift. In some stories, Pollux is mortal while Castor is immortal. In other stories, mortality is suggested for both of them.

If immortality is bestowed on only one, then that recipient is Pollux. One such story explains Gemini as emblemizing Pollux’s sharing his immortality with dying, mortal Castor.

The two brightest stars in Gemini the Twins constellation bear the traditional names of Castor and Pollux. First magnitude Pollux (Beta Geminorum, β Geminorum; Beta Gem, β Gem) shines as the constellation’s brightest star. Castor (Alpha Geminorum, α Geminorum; Alpha Gem, α Gem) is Gemini’s second brightest star. University of Illinois Professor Emeritus of Astronomy James “Jim” Kaler notes Castor’s lofting “into the ‘first magnitude’ category, though in fact it is the brightest of the second magnitude stars (1.58).”

The traditional names of the constellation’s two brightest stars reflect their association with the mythological twins. The two stars represent the twins’ heads in traditional visualizations. Rey concurred, noting, in The Stars: A New Way to See Them, that yellowish Pollux is brighter than whitish Castor. In Find the Constellations, Rey described each head as possessing a bright star.

Rey’s revised Gemini visualization differs from traditional depictions in presenting hand holding twins. Iota Geminorum (ι Geminorum; Iota Gem, ι Gem) represents the twins’ clasped hands. The fourth magnitude star perches at the apex of an almost isosceles triangle with Castor (Alpha Geminorum) and Pollux (Beta Geminorum). Iota Geminorum lies slightly closer to Pollux, positioned to the northeast, than to Castor, located to the northwest.

Curious George co-creator Hans Rey sought to share his enjoyment of astronomy by demystifying constellations for stargazers. He drew upon his creativity to make meaningful, new connections between a constellation’s stars without altering the constellation’s traditional stellar components. When he looked at Gemini, he saw brotherly love, epitomized by hand holding twins.

The takeaway for Curious George co-creator Hans Rey’s drawing Gemini as hand holding twins is that the German-born American author and illustrator refashioned Gemini the Twins constellation with the aim of easing recognition of Castor and Pollux for stargazers.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Curious George co-creator H.A. Rey’s redrawn Gemini the Twins constellation: AugPi, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gemini_constellation_map_visualization_1.PNG

traditional visualization of Gemini the Twins constellation, as depicted by British cartographer and engraver Sidney Hall (1788-1831) in Urania’s Mirror (1825), a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.: U.S. Library of Congress, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sidney_Hall_-_Urania's_Mirror_-_Gemini.jpg; No known restrictions on publication in the U.S., via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695511/

For further information:

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Castor (Alpha Geminorum).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/castor.html

Rey, H.A. Find the Constellations. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1954.

Rey, H.A. The Stars: A New Way to See Them. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Nanotyrannus Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dead Clade Walking

Summary: Sherlock Holmes needs no Nanotyrannus natural history illustrations to note a fossilized juvenile in Elementary series' Dead Clade Walking Jan. 30, 2014.

"Jane," now generally thought to be a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex rather than dubious new species Tyrannosaurus (Gorogsaurus lancensis), at the Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Winnebago County, north central Illinois; Sunday, July 18, 2010, 04:14: Volkan Yuksel, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

A first and second, third and fourth appear in Nanotyrannus natural history illustrations, for a private collection and in the Columbia Broadcasting System's Elementary series episode Dead Clade Walking Jan. 30, 2014.

Director Helen Shaver and writers Robert Doherty and Jeffrey Paul King bring a fictitious fourth Nanotyrannus specimen into Elementary's 38th episode, as Season Two's 14th episode. The fictitious fourth compares and contrasts with Nanotyrannus natural history illustrations in clustering the most complete skeletons ever collected and in claiming controversial calculations and classifications. Deliberate deaths of Doug Newberg and Malcolm Turner and a destroyed fossil drive Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) toward a debunker (Jonno Roberts) of post-extinction dinosaurs.

Jaws, skull and two near-complete skeletons evidenced in subsequent Nanotyrannus natural history illustrations encourage elevation by experts to a new genus or new or established species.

David Hosbrook Dunkle (Sep. 9, 1911-Jan. 3, 1984) from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, found the first fossil in the Lance Formation, Carter County, southeasternmost Montana, in 1942.

The Dunkle curatorship of vertebrate paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) in Ohio, 1939-1946, gave the jaws and skull the moniker CMNH 7541. The "nearly complete skull with tightly articulated lower jaws" headed Charles Whitney Gilmore (March 11, 1874-Sep. 27, 1945) toward species outside their genus's Belly River habitats. The United States National Museum curator of vertebrate paleontology at the present-day National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., identified CMNH 7541 Sep. 12, 1946.

The scientific classification Gorgosaurus lancensis ("terrible lizard [from the] Lance [Formation]) juggled Gorgosaurus-like muzzles and teeth with "smaller size, elongate shallow maxillary, and rounder orbital fenestra."

Paleontologists kept Gorgosaurus lancensis until Aug. 15, 1988, when Robert T. Bakker, Philip Currie and Michael E. Williams (Aug. 4, 1940-July 12, 2003) kindled other taxonomies.

The University of Colorado-Boulder paleontology adjunct curator, the CMNH curator and the Tyrell Museum for Paleontology collections and research assistant director in Alberta, Canada, looked elsewhere. Forward-facing eyes, head "bent down sharply on the neck," mature-sutured skull and temporal region four times the muzzle's width moved the trio away from gorgosaur species. The three paleontologists named the "more primitive" relative of narrow-muzzled, stereoscopic vision-adapted, wide-fronted Tyrannosaurus rex ("tyrant lizard king") Nanotyrannus lancensis ("pygmy tyrant [from the] Lance [Formation]").

Thomas D. Carr of Carthage College's Biology Department in Kenosha, Wisconsin, offered the taxonomic option of "young T. rex" with "immature bone grain" Sep. 14, 1999.

A large-footed, long-legged, 21.32-foot- (6.5-meter-) long, 1,408.75- to 2,797.66-pound (639- to 1,269-kilogram) skeleton from the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, central-southeastern Montana, provided proof in 2001.

The 11-year-old queues up the names BMRP 2002.4.1 and Jane (Walrath Solem, Nov. 25, 1919-July 30, 2015) at Illinois's Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford. Hell Creek Formation's "Bloody Mary" renders Bakker, Black Hills Institute paleontologist Peter Larson, CK Preparations preparator Chris Morrow and dinosaur-prospecting rancher Clayton Phipps unpersuaded since 2006. Bloody Mary and Jane, with CMNH 7541-like skulls, respectively suggest separate-species adulthood with arms and claws twice those of Tyrannosaurus rex and same-species, sleek-bodied, thin-toothed youth.

Rare metal-free rock, not Nanotyrannus natural history illustrations, tell Sherlock of "a miniature T. rex" from above the dinosaur-extinction, K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) Boundary 65.5 million years ago.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

A package left at the front stoop of Sherlock Holmes' (Jonny Lee Miller) contains the remains of a Nanotyrannus, smuggled from Mongolia into the United States, in Elementary tv series' Dead Clade Walking (season 2 episode 14): Elementary @ElementaryCBS, via Twitter Jan. 27, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/303915126400272/

For further information:

Bakker, Robert T.; Michael Williams; and Philip Currie. 1988. "Nanotyrannus, a New Genus of Pygmy Tyrannosaur, From the Latest Cretaceous of Montana." Hunteria, vol. 1, no. 5 (Aug. 15, 1988): 1-30. Boulder CO: University of Colorado Museum.
Available via Zenobo @ https://zenodo.org/record/1037529#.WwL-lUgvyUk

Carr, T. (Thomas) D. 1999. "Craniofacial Ontogeny Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria, Coelurosauria)." Journal of Vertebrae Paleontology, vol. 19, no. 3 (Sept. 14, 1999): 497-520. doi:10.1080/02724634.1999.10011161. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma.
Available via ResearchGate @ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254313764_Craniofacial_ontogeny_in_Tyrannosauridae_Dinosauria_Coelurosauria

"Dead Clade Walking." Elementary: The Second Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Jan. 30, 2014.

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London England: George Newnes Ltd., 1892.

Elementary @ElementaryCBS. 27 January 2014. "Added a new photo." Twitter.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/303915126400272/

Gilmore, Charles W. 12 September 1946. "A New Carnivorous Dinosaur From the Lance Formation of Montana." Smithsonian Micellaneous Collections, vol. 106, no. 13 (Publication 3857): 1-19. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, Sept. 12, 1946.
Available @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27394614

Joyce, Laurel. 30 May 1988. "Paleontologists' Fieldwork by Phone Identifies 'The Cleveland Critter.'" The Scientist > May 1988 Issue > News.
Available @ https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/9519/title/Paleontologists--Fieldwork-By-Phone-Identifies--The-Cleveland-Critter-/

Parrish, J.M. (Michael); M. (Michael) Henderson; P. (Philip) J. Currie; and E. (Eva) Koppelhus, eds. 2013. Origin, Systematics, and Paleobiology of the Tyrannosauridae. Dekalb IL: Northern Illinois University Press.

Sloan, Christopher. 2013. Tracking Tyrannosaurs: Meet T. rex's Fascinating Family, From Tiny Terrors to Feathered Giants. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Children's Books.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Shakespeare Quadrangle Is Third of 15 Quadrangles of Mercurian Surface

Summary: Shakespeare Quadrangle is third of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and covers northern middle latitudes longitudinally from 90 to 180 degrees.

Incomplete map of Shakespeare Quadrangle presents area of northern midlatitude illuminated during the Mariner 10 robotic space probe's three Mercury flybys (March 29, 1974; Sept. 21, 1974; March 16, 1975), with southeast corner noted as "area of resolution inadequate for geologic mapping" and five degree length of entire western border noted as "area in darkness"; Geologic Map of the Shakespeare Quadrangle of Mercury (1983) by John E. Guest and Ronald Greeley, 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

Shakespeare Quadrangle is the third of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface and references the Swift Planet's northern middle latitudes from 90 to 180 degrees west longitude.

As the third of Mercury's 15 quadrangles, Shakespeare Quadrangle bears the letter-number designation of H-3 or H03. H signifies Hermes, the Olympian deity who equated, in Greek mythology, to Mercurius in Roman mythology.

Shakespeare Quadrangle's provisional name, Caduceata (Latin: "having or possessing the caduceus), references Mercury's signature magical wand of two snakes intertwined around a winged staff. Greek French astronomer Greek French astronomer Eugène Michel Antoniadi (March 1, 1870-Feb. 10, 1944) placed Caduceata north of 50 degrees north latitude 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).

Mercury's quadrangles conventionally receive names from prominent features. Shakespeare Quadrangle's namesake is Shakespeare Crater. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has established the convention of naming Mercury's craters after historically significant artists, authors, musicians and painters, according to the IAU's U.S.G.S. (U.S. Geological Survey) Astrogeology Science Center-maintained, online Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Approved by the International Astronomical Association (IAU) in 1979, Shakespeare Crater honors Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616).

Shakespeare Crater is located in northwestern Shakespeare Quadrangle. The Mercurian impact crater is centered at 48.1 degrees north latitude, 152.25 degrees west longitude, according to the IAU's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The northern midlatitude crater registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 52.74 degrees north and 43.36 degrees north, respectively. It records easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 145.29 degrees west and 159.22 degrees west, respectively. Shakespeare Crater's diameter measures 399 kilometers.

The crater's northwestern area is home to Zeehaen Rupes. In accordance with the IAU convention of naming rupes after "ships of discovery or scientific expeditions," Zeehaen Rupes honors one of the two small ships (Heemskerck, Zeehaen) with which Dutch Golden Age explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603-Oct. 10, 1659) discovered Tasmania (Nov. 24, 1642), New Zealand (Dec. 13, 1642), and the Fiji Islands (Feb. 6, 1643). The IAU approved Zeehaen Rupes in 1976.

Shakespeare Crater's resident scarp is centered at 49.64 degrees north latitude, 158.15 degrees west longitude. It finds its northernmost and southern latitudes at 50.85 degrees north and 47.76 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes touch 156.27 degrees west and 159.07 degrees west, respectively. Zeehaen Rupes measures 164 kilometers.

Van Eyck Crater nudges against Shakespeare Crater's southwestern boundary. Approved in 1979, Van Eyck Crater honors Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck (ca. 1390-July 9, 1441).

Van Eyck is centered at 43.22 degrees north latitude, 159.43 degrees west longitude. It posts northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 46.39 degrees north and 40.01 degrees north, respectively. It marks its easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 155.07 degrees west and 163.8 degrees west, respectively. Van Eyck Crater has a diameter of 271 kilometers.

Shakespeare Crater occupies terrain between two planitiae (Latin: "plains"). The quadrangle's namesake crater lies to the south of Suisei Planitia and to the west-northwest of Sobkou Planitia. IAU convention draws names for Mercury's planitiae from names for Mercury, as messenger god or solar system planet, from various languages. Ancient Egyptians knew their messenger deity as Sobkou, often transliterated as Sobek. The Japanese language knows the Swift Planet as Suisei.

Suisei Planitia is centered at 60.88 degrees north latitude, 147.81 degrees west longitude. Shakespeare Quadrangle's northwestern plain obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of 67.7 degrees north and 54.41 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 140.23 degrees west and 156.44 degrees west, respectively. Suisei Planitia's diameter measures 569 kilometers.

Sobkou Planitia is centered at 39 degrees north latitude, 128.02 degrees west longitude. Shakespeare Quadrangle's south central plain extends its northernmost and southernmost latitudes to 49.51 degrees north and 28.59 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 111.41 degrees west and 143.79 degrees west, respectively. Sobkou Planitia's diameter spans 1,128 kilometers.

Southwestern Shakespeare Quadrangle hosts three plains, Budh Planitia, Caloris Planitia and Odin Planitia. Mercury is known by the Sanskrit word Budha (Sanskrit: बुध) in such Hindu astronomical texts as the Aryabhatiya, written at the end of the fifth century CE by classical Indian astronomer-mathematician Aryabhatta (476–550 CE); and Romaka Siddhanta ("Doctrine of the Romans") and Panca Siddhantika ("Five Treatises"), written in the sixth century by Aryabhatta's students, Latadeva and Varahamihira (499-587 CE), respectively. An exception to the IAU convention for names of plains applied in 1976 to Caloris Planitia (Hot Plain). Odin Planitia eponymizes Germanic and Norse mythological Allfather deity Odin (Old Norse: Óðinn), father of Hermóðr, messenger of the gods.

Budh Planitia lies to the east of Odin Planitia and to the southwest of Sobkou Planitia. Budh Planitia is centered at 19.52 degrees north latitude, 150.46 degrees west longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes stretch from 28.42 degrees north to 10.47 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes span from 141 degrees west to 159.65 degrees west, respectively. Budh Planitia's diameter measures 816 kilometers.

As Odin Planitia's western neighbor, Caloris Planitia skims Shakespeare Quadrangle's southeastern corner. The vast plain's primary location is in the Raditladi Quadrangle, Shakespeare Quadrangle's western neighbor. Caloris Planitia is centered at 31.65 degrees north latitude, 198.02 degrees west longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 48.6 degrees north and 15.54 degrees north, respectively. It pegs its easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 176.3 degrees west and 217.97 degrees west, respectively. Caloris Planitia's diameter spans 1,500 kilometers.

Odin Planitia occupies the quadrangle's southwestern corner. Odin Planitia is centered at 23.5 degrees north latitude, 169.86 degrees west longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at 29.17 degrees north and 18.38 degrees north, respectively. It establishes its easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 164.1 degrees west and 176.06 degrees west, respectively. Odin Planitia's diameter measures 473 kilometers.

Shakespeare Quadrangle borders the northern polar region's Borealis Quadrant to the north. Raditladi Quadrangle (H-4) and Hokusai Quadrangle (H-5) occur as Shakespeare Quadrangle's western and eastern neighbors, respectively. Shakespeare Quadrangle's southern borders touch Beethoven Quadrangle (H-7) and Tolstoj Quadrangle (H-8).

The takeaways for Shakespeare Quadrangle as the third of 15 quadrangles of the Mercurian surface are that the quadrangle's namesake is Elizabethan playwright-honoring Shakespeare Crater; that the quadrangle was identified as Caduceata (Latin: "caduceus bearing or possessing") Albedo Province in Greek French astronomer E.M. Antoniadi's 1934 Mercury guide; that Shakespeare Quadrangle hosts five planitiae (Latin: "plains"); and that Shakespeare Quadrangle shares borders with northern neighbor Borealis Quadrangle, eastern neighbor Hokusai Quadrangle, southern neighbors Beethoven Quadrangle and Tolstoj Quadrangle and western neighbor Raditladi Quadrangle.

Map of the H-3 (Shakespeare) Quadrangle of Mercury shows the northern midlatitude region's five plains (Suisei Planitia [upper left], Sobkou Planitia [center to right], Budh Planitia [lower center to left], Odin Planitia [lower left], Caloris Planitia with eastern rim, Caloris Montes [lower left 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:

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. "H-3 Shakespeare 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/h3.htm

Guest, John E.; and Ronald Greeley. Geologic Map of the Shakespeare Quadrangle of Mercury. IMAP 1408 H-3. 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-Shakespeare-Quadrangle
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1408

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Budh Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 7, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/909

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Odin Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 12, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4404

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Shakespeare.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 13, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5456

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Sobkou Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Feb. 17, 2017.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5614

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Suisei Planitia.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5750

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Van Eyck.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6310

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Zeehaen Rupes.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Mercury. Last updated Oct. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6710

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

Mahoney, T.J. (Terry J.). New York NY: Springer Science + Business Media, 2014.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=iC65BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

North, John. "Chapter 7: Indian and Persian Astronomy." Pages 171-188. Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology. Chicago IL and London UK: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=qq8Luhs7rTUC&pg=PA171

Sastry, T.S. Kuppanna. Pañcasiddhāntikā of Varāhamihira With Translation and Notes. Critically Edited With Introduction and Appendices by K.V. Sarma. P.P.S.T. Science Series No. 1. Adyar, Madras, India: P.P.S.T. Foundation, 1993.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/panca-siddhantika-varahamihira-t.-s.-kuppanna-sastry-k.-v.-sarma/

U.S. Geological Survey. Shaded Relief Map of the Shakespeare Quadrangle of Mercury (Caduceata Albedo Province). IMAP 1066 H-3. Atlas of Mercury 1:5,000,000 Topographic Series. Prepared on behalf of the Planetary Programs Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, 1977.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i1066