Memphis Facula

This article is about the feature on the moon Ganymede. For the ancient Egyptian city, see Memphis, Egypt. For the modern American city, see Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis Facula
A mosaic image of Memphis Facula assembled from Voyager 2 images, taken on July 9, 1979. The smaller, darker, more rugged Nidaba to its upper right is considered a crater.[1]
Feature typeFacula
Coordinates14°06′N 131°54′W / 14.1°N 131.9°W / 14.1; -131.9[2]
Diameter360 km (220 mi)
EponymMemphis, Egypt

Memphis Facula /ˈmɛmfɪs ˈfækjʊlə/ is a palimpsest, or "ghost crater", on Ganymede, the largest of the Jovian satellites.

Naming

Memphis is named after the capital city of Ancient Egypt. It was also the center of worship of the Egyptian god Ptah who became the supreme creator god of Egypt for many centuries due to the city's political and royal significance.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) naming convention states that surface features on Ganymede be named after deities, figures and places from Ancient Middle Eastern mythology, including Egyptian mythology. More specifically, all named faculae are named after important places of worship in Ancient Egypt. In this case, Memphis was the center of worship of Ptah, his wife Sekhmet, and their son Nefertem.

Geology

About 360 km across,[2] Memphis Facula is situated in the southern part of Galileo Regio, a huge, almost circular dark region in Ganymede's northern hemisphere. Although it is almost completely leveled today, it is a relic of a massive impact and was once a deep impact crater. As time went on, its walls have slumped and its floor has risen isostatically, smoothing out the remaining topography into a slush.

The morphology of larger palimpsests like Memphis Facula suggests that at the time of the asteroid impact, Ganymede's icy crust was about 10 km thick, and was penetrated by the impact, allowing the slush and fluid beneath to fill and level out the crater.[3]

Within Memphis Facula lies three named craters—Aleyin and Chrysor, which are beside each other,[4] and Hay-tau.

To the northeast of Memphis Facula is the crater Nidaba, while to its southeast is the crater Ninlil. Both neighboring craters are very dark.

The section of Ganymede's surface that are south, east and southeast of Memphis Facula are considered as parts of the Memphis Facula quadrangle (designated Jg 7). The quadrangle also includes parts of Galileo Regio, particularly the areas of the regio that are close to Memphis Facula, despite the fact that Galileo Regio has its own quadrangle. From the west, parts of the neighboring Uruk Sulcus (the namesake of the Uruk quadrangle) is also crossing over into the Memphis Facula quadrangle.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ganymede: Nidaba". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
  2. ^ a b "Ganymede: Memphis Facula". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
  3. ^ Harland, D. M. (1 October 2000). Jupiter Odyssey: The Story of NASA's Galileo Mission. Springer. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-85233-301-0. OCLC 44461919.
  4. ^ "Dark-floored Impact Craters on Ganymede". NASA. 1998. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  5. ^ Ganymede Map Images Archived 2007-11-19 at the Wayback Machine


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