J.R.R. Tolkien Honored With A Crater on Mercury's North Pole The
legendary author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy
J.R.R. Tolkien has been immortalized on a cosmic scale with his
name attached to a crater on Mercury. Tolkien's name was added
along with eight other international artists to the list of
features on the surface of our solar system's innermost planet.
The names were approved by the International Astronomical Union
on August 6, and are all craters near Mercury's northern pole.
According to The Universe Today, Tolkien crater is fairly large
at around 30 miles in diameter, and is extremely close to the
Mercury's pole. Like Us on Facebook The crater is among those
identified by NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment,
Geochemistry and Ranging probe or MESSENGER. The satellite first
reached Mercury in March of last year, becoming the first
spacecraft to ever orbit the tiny planet. Since its arrival, the
probe has sent back nearly 100,000 pictures and greatly expanded
scientists knowled