海角大神

Here鈥檚 your rare chance to leave a lasting mark on a piece of the Solar System. The team behind the MESSENGER spacecraft 鈥� that machine orbiting Mercury since 2011 鈥� is asking the public to help them name craters on the planet, in an open contest.

Fifteen finalists will be forwarded to the official arbitrator of astronomical names on Earth, the International Astronomical Union, which will pick five names in time for the聽end of the MESSENGER mission this spring.

鈥淭his brave little craft, not much bigger than a Volkswagen Beetle, has travelled more than 8 billion miles [12.8 billion kilometers] since 2004鈥攇etting to the planet and then in orbit,鈥澛爏tated Julie Edmonds聽of the Carnegie Institution for Science, who leads the MESSENGER education and public outreach team.

鈥淲e would like to draw international attention to the achievements of the mission and the guiding engineers and scientists on Earth who have made the MESSENGER mission so outstandingly successful.鈥�

Here are some guidelines to increase your chances of success:
鈥� Make sure the name does not have significance politically, religiously or for the military;
鈥� Focus on names of writers, artists and composers and research them thoroughly, as you will be expected to provide a justification;
鈥� Don鈥檛 pick a name that has been used聽elsewhere in the Solar System.

Some additional hints come from the聽official contest website, which adds that the competition is open to everyone except MESSENGER鈥檚 education and public outreach team and that entries close Jan. 15.

This isn鈥檛 the first planet with recent open invitations for the public to name craters. Earlier this year, astronomy education group Uwingu began asking for suggestions聽to name craters on Mars聽for maps that will be used by the Mars One team as it plans to land a private crewed mission on the planet in the coming years. Those names, however, will likely not be recognized by the IAU (the聽official statement is here.)

Elizabeth Howell聽is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter聽@howellspace聽or contact her at聽her website.

Originally published on聽Universe Today.