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Airy-0 is a crater on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
whose location defines the position of the
prime meridianThe Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
of that planet. It is about 0.5 kilometre (0.310686368324903 mi) across and lies within the larger crater
AiryAiry is an impact crater on Mars, named in honor of the British Astronomer, Royal Sir George Biddell Airy . The crater is approximately 40 kilometers in diameter and is located at 0.1°E 5.1°S in the Meridiani Planum region. The much smaller crater Airy-0, which defines the location of Mars' prime...
in the region
Sinus MeridianiSinus Meridiani is a feature name for an albedo feature on Mars stretching east-west just south of that planet's equator. It was named by the French astronomer Camille Flammarion in the late 1870s.-Observational History:...
.
It was named in honor of the British
Astronomer RoyalAstronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the second is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834....
Sir
George Biddell AirySir George Biddell Airy PRS KCB was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881...
(1801-1892), who in 1850 built the transit circle telescope at
GreenwichGreenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. The location of that telescope was subsequently chosen to define the location of Earth's prime meridian.
The selection of this crater as Mars'
prime meridianThe Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
was made by
Merton DaviesMerton E. Davies graduated from Stanford University in 1937 and worked for the Douglas Aircraft corporation in the 1940s. He became a pioneer of spy satellite technology as a member of RAND Corporation after it split off from Douglas in 1948...
in 1969 based on
Mariner 6 and 7As part of NASA's wider Mariner program, Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars in 1969. Mariner 6 was launched from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Kennedy and Mariner 7 from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Kennedy...
photographs.
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