Kirk (crater)

Kirk

Kirk crater is in the center of this image. To its right is Clarke Montes.

Moon| Charon
Coordinates|  [ ⚑ ] : 5°S 2°E﻿ / ﻿5°S 2°E﻿ / -5; 2[1]
Diameter| 30 km
Discoverer| New Horizons

Kirk Crater is the unofficial name given to a small crater on Pluto's largest moon Charon. The crater was discovered by the New Horizons space probe in 2015 during its flyby of Pluto and its moons. It was named after the character James T. Kirk from the Star Trek media franchise. The crater is located in the southern hemisphere, just south of the equator, and just east of the prime meridian, near Clarke Montes, in a region that astronomers have named Vulcan Planum.[2]

The floor of Kirk Crater is covered with small mounds called hummocks, which may provide evidence for how ice flowed.[3]

## See also

* List of geological features on Charon

## References

1. ↑ "USGS Astrogeology Science Center". https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search?pmi-target=charon. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
2. ↑ Wall, Mike (August 3, 2015). "Vader Crater, Kirk & Spock! 'Star Wars,' 'Star Trek' Collide on Pluto Moon" (in en). http://www.space.com/30139-pluto-charon-kirk-spock-vader-names.html. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
3. ↑ Singer, K. N. (16 Nov 2019). "Impact craters on Pluto and Charon indicate a deficit of small Kuiper belt objects". Science 363 (6430): 955–959. doi:10.1126/science.aap8628. PMID 30819958. Bibcode: 2019Sci...363..955S.

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Pluto

Geography
(features)|

| Regions|

* "Brass Knuckles"
* Krun
* Ala
* Balrog
* Vucub-Came
* Hun-Came
* Meng-p'o
* Cadejo
* Cthulhu
* Hayabusa
* Lowell
* Morgoth
* Pioneer
* Tombaugh "The Heart"
* Venera
* Viking
* Voyager

|

Mountains|

* Challenger Colles
* Coleta de Dados Colles
* Hillary Montes
* Tenzing Montes

Plains|

* Sputnik Planitia

Valleys and
depressions|

* Quidlivun Cavus

Lineae|

* Luna Linea

General|

* Atmosphere
* Geology

Moons|

| Charon
(features)|

| Regions|

* Gallifrey
* Mordor
* Vulcan

|

Mountains|

* Kubrick Mons

Chasms|

* Nostromo Chasma

Craters|

* Kirk Crater
* Ripley Crater
* Vader Crater

Geology|

* Geology

Other moons|

* Styx
* Nix
* Kerberos
* Hydra

Astronomy|

| Definition|

* Alan Stern
* Definition of planet
* Double planet
* Dwarf planet
* IAU definition of planet
* International Astronomical Union
* Michael E. Brown
* Neil deGrasse Tyson
* Planet
* Plutino
* Plutoid
* Trans-Neptunian object

|

Discovery|

* Clyde Tombaugh
* James W. Christy
* Lowell Observatory
* Percival Lowell
* Planet X
* Roger Putnam

Eclipses|

* Solar eclipses on Pluto

General|

* Kuiper belt

Exploration|

| Current|

* Hubble Space Telescope

|

Former|

* New Horizons

Cancelled|

* Pluto Fast Flyby/Pluto Kuiper Express
* Mariner Mark II

Old proposals|

* Voyager 1
* TAU

Related|

* Venetia Burney
* Pluto in fiction
* Mythology

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