NASA Allows People to Name Craters on Mercury

If you fancy naming an orbiter, this is your chance. NASA is inviting entries from people world over to name five craters on the planet Mercury.

NASA initiated the month-long competition in memory of its Mercury orbiter MESSENGER which has captured nearly 25,000 images of the planet since its launch in 2004. Having served its purpose, the spacecraft's fuel will run out in March 2015 following which it would plunge into the planet it has photographed from close quarters over the last three years, The Washington Post reported.

NASA is allowing people to name five craters on the planet to be named after artists who have been recognizable for the last 50 years or more and who have been dead for more three years now.

"The MESSENGER science team has selected five craters of particular geological interest for this contest. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the global authority in charge of assigning official names to features on the planets. According to the IAU rules for Mercury, impact craters are named in honor of people who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to the Arts and Humanities (visual artists, writers, poets, dancers, architects, musicians, composers and so on)," the competition's webpage reads.

The competition which began Tuesday is on till January 15.

MESSENGER has shown existence of water ice in craters closer to Mercury's poles thanks to perpetual shade from Sun's heat, according to Forbes. Though it is running out of fuel and is nearing its end, the spacecraft continues to send data which is considered precious as information is gathered from planet's close quarters owing to the orbiter's declining altitude.