Vulcan Planum

Vulcan Planum
	An annotated map of Charon, with Vulcan Planum in the southern hemisphere.
Location	Charon
Coordinates	0°N 0°W / 0°N -0°E
Discoverer	New Horizons

Vulcan Planum, /ˈvʌlkən/ or Vulcan Planitia, is the unofficial name given to a large plain on the southern hemisphere of Pluto's moon Charon. It discovered by New Horizons during its flyby of Pluto in July 2015. It is named after the fictional planet Vulcan in the science-fiction series Star Trek. The name is not approved by International Astronomical Union as of 2020^[update].

Geography[edit]

Vulcan Planum is in the southern hemisphere of Charon. Its extent is not completely known, but it occupies at least 400,000 km² (150,000 sq mi).^[2] Vulcan Planum is separated from Oz Terra by a series of scarps that are several kilometers high.^[3] It has a mostly smooth surface with no large craters, and its elevation is about 1 km lower than Oz Terra's. This suggests that Vulcan Planum is younger than Oz, and formed as a result of a large cryoflow, which has solidified.^[4]

The more significant craters have been named after characters from Star Trek, while two mountains have been named after science-fiction authors and directors.

List of named geological features[edit]

The features included this table lie within Vulcan Planum.

Feature	Type	Named After	Mythos
Clarke Mons	Mountain	Arthur C. Clarke	Science-fiction author
Kubrick Mons	Mountain	Stanley Kubrick	Science-fiction author
Kirk	Crater	James T. Kirk	Star Trek series
Spock Crater	Crater	Spock	Star Trek series
Sulu Crater	Crater	Hikaru Sulu	Star Trek series
Uhura Crater	Crater	Nyota Uhura	Star Trek series

References[edit]

^ "Global map of Charon". Retrieved 25 April 2018.
^ Beyer, Ross A.; Spencer, John R.; McKinnon, William B.; et al. (May 2019). "The nature and origin of Charon's smooth plains". Icarus. 323: 16–32. Bibcode:2019Icar..323...16B. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.036.
^ O’Hanlon, Larry (26 February 2019). "New map reveals geology and history of Pluto's moon Charon". GeoSpace. American Geophysical Union. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
^ Robbins, Stuart J.; Beyer, Ross A.; Spencer, John R.; et al. (January 2019). "Geologic Landforms and Chronostratigraphic History of Charon as Revealed by a Hemispheric Geologic Map". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 124 (1): 155–174. Bibcode:2019JGRE..124..155R. doi:10.1029/2018JE005684. S2CID 134425302.

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[1] "Global map of Charon". Retrieved 25 April 2018.

[Icarus19-2] Beyer, Ross A.; Spencer, John R.; McKinnon, William B.; et al. (May 2019). "The nature and origin of Charon's smooth plains". Icarus. 323: 16–32. Bibcode:2019Icar..323...16B. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.036.

[3] O’Hanlon, Larry (26 February 2019). "New map reveals geology and history of Pluto's moon Charon". GeoSpace. American Geophysical Union. Retrieved 6 April 2020.

[4] Robbins, Stuart J.; Beyer, Ross A.; Spencer, John R.; et al. (January 2019). "Geologic Landforms and Chronostratigraphic History of Charon as Revealed by a Hemispheric Geologic Map". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 124 (1): 155–174. Bibcode:2019JGRE..124..155R. doi:10.1029/2018JE005684. S2CID 134425302.

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