Vonnegut (crater)

Vonnegut is a crater on Mercury, near the north pole. It was named by the IAU in 2017 after the American author Kurt Vonnegut.^[1] Part of Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan takes place on Mercury. The crater was referred to as e5 in scientific literature prior to naming.^[2]

Vonnegut

MESSENGER image
Planet	Mercury
Coordinates	82.72°N 249.91°W / 82.72; -249.91
Quadrangle	Borealis
Diameter	26.61 km (16.53 mi)
Eponym	Kurt Vonnegut

S band radar data from the Arecibo Observatory collected between 1999 and 2005 indicates a radar-bright area along the southern interior of Vonnegut, which is probably indicative of a water ice deposit, and lies within the permanently shadowed part of the crater.^[3][4][5] MESSENGER's Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) was used to measure surface reflectance of the surface of the planet, and the radar-bright material is covered by low-reflectance material.^[2]

Vonnegut is north of the slightly larger Yoshikawa crater.