A false-color image of Limtoc within the Stickney crater, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on 23 March 2008

Limtoc is a crater on the surface of Mars's inner moon Phobos.[1] The crater, the diameter of which is 2 kilometers, is located within the larger, and better-known surface feature, Stickney crater.[1] Limtoc was officially named by the International Astronomical Union on 29 November 2006, after a character from Jonathan Swift’s satire Gulliver's Travels.[1]

Limtoc formed roughly 109 million years ago, making it one of the youngest features on Phobos.[2] When the Limtoc impactor collided with Phobos, it created a significant amount of ejecta; ejecta which was sent towards the northern edge of Stickney collided with that crater's rim, while ejecta sent towards the southern edge was largely catapulted out of Stickney altogether.[3] This ejecta has partially contributed to the formation of the blue spectral coloration seen on the south-western edge of the Stickney crater, along with the ejecta from Stickney itself.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Limtoc on Phobos". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b Kikuchi, Hiroshi (15 January 2021). "Simulating re-impacts from craters at the deepest location of Phobos to generate its blue spectral units". Icarus. Elsevier. 354: 113997. Bibcode:2021Icar..35413997K. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113997. S2CID 224926793. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  3. ^ Kikuchi, Hiroshi (2018). "Ejecta Emplacements of Limtoc Impact on Phobos" (PDF). 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Lunar and Planetary Institute & Johnson Space Center (2083): 2. Bibcode:2018LPI....49.1898K. Retrieved 30 August 2022.


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