Al-Mustazi (crater)

Al-Mustazi

Al-Mustazi (center) as seen
by the Cassini spacecraft on July 14, 2005
Location 20°52′S 202°02′W / 20.86°S 202.04°W / -20.86; -202.04[1]
Diameter 10.3 km[1]
Discoverer Cassini
Naming Az-Zahir; Abbasid Caliph

Al-Mustazi is an impact crater located on the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Al-Mustazi was first observed in Cassini images during that mission's March 2005 flyby of Enceladus. It is located at 20.9° South Latitude, 202.0° West Longitude, and is 10.3 kilometers across.[1] Cassini observed numerous southwest-northeast trending fractures cutting across the southwest rim of Al-Mustazi, forming canyons several hundred meters deep. These fractures were deflected by the weakened regolith produced by the Al-Mustazi impact.[2] This deflection produced the pattern of radiating fractures seen along the northeastern rim of Al-Mustazi.

Al-Mustazi is named after Az-Zahir, a 13th-century Abbasid caliph and a character in the "The Hunchback's Tale" from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Enceladus: Al-Mustazi". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  2. ↑ A. N. Barnash et al. (2006). "Interactions Between Impact Craters and Tectonic Fractures on Enceladus". Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 38 (3): Presentation Num. 24.06.


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