Patera (planetary nomenclature)

Tupan Patera on Io
Orcus Patera on Mars
Sachs Patera on Venus

Patera /ˈpætərə/ PAT-ər-ə[1] (plural: paterae /ˈpætəri/ PAT-ə-ree)[1] is an irregular crater, or a complex crater with scalloped edges on a celestial body. Paterae can have any origin (volcanic, impact or other), although the majority of them were created by volcanism.[2][3][4] The term comes from Latin, where it refers to a shallow bowl used in antique cultures.[5][6]

This term is used in planetary nomenclature: it is a part of the international names of such features. In such names, it is capitalized and stands after the proper given name (e.g., Pillan Patera). Besides that, it can be used as a description term and applied even to unnamed features.[7][8]

  1. ^ a b "patera". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tanaka_1992 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shingareva_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Head_1992 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Angelo_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Loth_2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Davies_2007_unnamed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Williams_2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).