<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>* MESSENGER - December 21, 2012</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Recently Named Mercury Craters Honor Blues Singer and Animation Pioneer</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to nine impact craters on Mercury. The IAU has been the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919. In keeping with the established naming theme for craters on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other contributors to the humanities. The newly named craters are: </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Catullus, for Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84 BC-ca. 54 BC), a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Disney, for Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (1901-1966), an American film maker, actor, and animator who, along with his brother Roy O. Disney, co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Hopper, for Edward Hopper (1882-1967), a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. Although he was most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Joplin, for Scott Joplin (1868-1917), an African-American composer and pianist who wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag," became ragtime's first and most influential hit and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Kobro, for Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951), a prominent Polish sculptor who co-founded the AR ("Revolutionary Artists" or "avant-garde Actual"). She is credited with revolutionizing thinking about sculpture. Her work explored the relations between the art object, the audience, and the surrounding space.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Komeda, for Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969), a Polish film music composer and jazz pianist best known for his work in film scores. He wrote the scores for Roman Polanski's films "Rosemary's Baby," "The Fearless Vampire Killers," "Knife in the Water," and "Cul-de-sac." His album "Astigmatic" (1965) is widely regarded as one of the most important European jazz albums.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Kyosai, for Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), a Japanese artist who attained a reputation as a caricaturist. In addition to his caricatures, Kyosai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from the folklore of his country.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Popova, for Lyubov Popova (1889-1924), a Russian painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer, applied artist, and illustrator. She painted in a Cubo-Futurist style and designed fabrics and agitprop books and posters.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Waters, for McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield (1915-1983), an African-American blues musician, generally considered the father of modern "Chicago blues." He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s and is ranked No. 17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">These nine newly named craters join 86 other craters named since the MESSENGER spacecraft's first Mercury flyby in January 2008. "Kawanabe Kyosai, 19th century Japanese artist and now namesake of Kyosai crater on Mercury, changed the first character of his name from one meaning 'crazy' in Japanese to one meaning 'enlightenment' upon being released from prison," notes William Vaughan, a Ph.D. student at Brown University who, as a member of MESSENGER Geology Discipline Group, was involved in selecting the names. "I hope that careful study of Kyosai crater will similarly reward us with enlightenment about Mercury's enigmatic geology."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(2, 30, 170); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">The new app is available for download at <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messenger-nasas-mission-to/id510144229?ls=1&mt=8"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messenger-nasas-mission-to/id510144229?ls=1&mt=8</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">.</span></a></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">For more information on the MESSENGER mission, visit the MESSENGER home page: <a href="http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>* Pack Your Backpack</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Calling all explorers! Tour JPL with our new Virtual Field Trip site. Stops include Mission Control and the Rover Lab. Your guided tour starts when you select a "face" that will be yours throughout the visit. Cool space images and souvenirs are all included in your visit.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">+ <a href="http://virtualfieldtrip.jpl.nasa.gov/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://virtualfieldtrip.jpl.nasa.gov/</span></a> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* Past, Present, Future and Proposed JPL Missions - <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* For special JPL programs and presentations in your area visit the JPL Solar System Ambassador web site at <a href="http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Mars Missions</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(2, 30, 170); "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov/welcome"><b><i>Be A Martian</i></b></a></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b></b></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></div></body></html>