Belton Regio (formerly Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio[1][2]) is a prominent surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto.[3] It is an elongated dark region along Pluto's equator, 2,990 km (1,860 mi) long and one of the darkest features on its surface.[4]
After its discovery in 2015, the feature was provisionally named after the fictional deity Cthulhu from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, as it was most popular name in its category in an online poll conducted earlier that year. In 2023, an official name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union honoring astronomer Michael J. Belton.
^Amanda M. Zangari; et al. (November 2015). "New Horizons disk-integrated approach photometry of Pluto and Charon". AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #47. 47. American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #47, id.210.01: 210.01. Bibcode:2015DPS....4721001Z.
^Stern, S. A.; Grundy, W.; McKinnon, W. B.; Weaver, H. A.; Young, L. A. (2018). "The Pluto System After New Horizons". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 56 (1): 357–392. arXiv:1712.05669. Bibcode:2018ARA&A..56..357S. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051935. S2CID 119072504.
^"Planetary Names". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
^Feltman, Rachel (8 July 2015). "New map of Pluto reveals a 'whale' and a 'donut'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
BeltonRegio (formerly Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio) is a prominent surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto. It is an elongated dark region along...
just north of Pluto's equator, to the northeast of BeltonRegio and to the northwest of Safronov Regio, which are both dark features. Its western lobe,...
caused the dead to forget their past lives BeltonRegio (formerly called Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio), nicknamed The Whale after its shape, is an...
Glacier Belton, South Carolina Belton, Texas BeltonRegio (formerly Cthulhu Regio), a dark region on Pluto Belton v. Gebhart, one of the cases which were combined...
Alpha Regio Asteria Regio Beta Regio Ovda Regio A regio of Pluto: BeltonRegio Lowell Regio Tombaugh Regio A regio of Titan: Tui Regio A regio of Ganymede:...
approved on 22 September 2023. Safronov Regio is the third largest equatorial dark region on Pluto, after the BeltonRegio and the Balrog Macula. It extends...
Sputnik Planitia within Hyecho Palus, adjacent to the Tenzing Montes and BeltonRegio. A relatively young geological feature, Wright Mons has attracted attention...
Pluto. It is the largest dark equatorial feature on Pluto after the BeltonRegio, and is located in the middle of the leading hemisphere. It is named...
geographical features include Tombaugh Regio, or the "Heart" (a large bright area on the side opposite Charon), BeltonRegio, or the "Whale" (a large dark area...
Pola Regio is a geological structure on the asteroid 243 Ida. It was named after Pula (Pola), the place where Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa discovered...
(labeled Norgay Montes) lie between Sputnik Planitia (top) and BeltonRegio (bottom). BeltonRegio and other dark areas have many craters and signatures of...
being a smaller independent dome. Virgil Fossae, a large fault within BeltonRegio, may also represent another site of cryovolcanism on Pluto. An estimated...
Horizons team. Names that have been officially approved are labeled as such. A regio is a region geographically distinct from its surroundings. Plutonian regiones...
somewhat speculative. CH4 is widely distributed outside the Tombaugh Regio and BeltonRegio, possibly at latitudinal bands of the northern boundary of Cthulhu...
participating institution membership required.) JPL 2008 Belton et al. 1996 Britt et al. 2002, p. 486 Belton, M. J. S.; Chapman, C. R.; Thomas, P. C.; Davies...
dozen large flat areas and concavities. One of these flat areas, Dunne Regio, is a 5 km × 7 km (3.1 mi × 4.3 mi) area that is flat to within 200 m (660 ft)...
on the Moon, and crater Lowell on Mars, were named after him. The Lowell Regio on Pluto was also named in his honor after its discovery by the New Horizons...
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