Vader (crater)

Vader
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Photo of Charon centered on Ripley Crater. Nostromo Chasma crosses Ripley vertically. Organa Crater is at 9:00, and Vader is the dark crater at 12:00
Feature typeImpact crater
LocationCharon
Coordinates55°N 15°W / 55°N 15°W / 55; -15[1]
DiscovererNew Horizons
NamingUnofficial
EponymDarth Vader

Vader is the unofficial name given to a dark crater on Pluto's largest moon Charon. The floor of Vader is darker than the surrounding terrain, covered in the same reddish-brown dark material that covers Mordor Macula on Charon's north pole. Though Charon's surface trends darker with increasing latitude, some craters, such as Vader, interrupt this trend.[2] The crater was discovered by NASA's New Horizons space probe on its way by Pluto. It is named after the character Darth Vader from the Star Wars media franchise; the name has yet to be officially approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference GlobalMap was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grundy2016a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Space.com2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).