SFScope friend Steven H Silver alerts to the fact that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has announced new Martian crater names. “Filmmaker George Pál (1908-1980) and nineteenth century author Percy Greg (1836-1889) have had craters named for them on Mars.” The names were approved 21 June 2010. Crater Pál is about 79 km in diameter, centered at 108.6° East, 31.01° South. Crater Greg is about 68 km in diameter, centered at 112.81° East, 38.281° South.
Silver reminds us that “Pál directed the films Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, The Time Machine, and Atlantis, the Lost Continent, in addition to the Martian film War of the Worlds.” Greg wrote the novel Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record. Both craters are located east of Hellas Planitia basin. This also marks the first time the IAU has use John Clute and Peter Nichol’s The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction on the list of references cited in planetary nomenclature.”
The announcements came days after the IAU expanded “the theme for naming large craters on Mars (approximately 60 km and larger) to include all scientists. The theme now reads ‘Deceased scientists, especially those who have contributed to the study of Mars; writers and others who have contributed to the lore of Mars.'”