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Writer's pictureKarl Roe

Crater of the Day: Tornarsuk


Location: Northwest Callisto

Diameter: 61 miles

Etymology: Greenland Inuit



I really love that on one of the moons of Jupiter there is a crater named for this guy:


The deity Tornarsuk (sometimes spelled Torngarsuk, or Tornasuk) originates from the mythology of the Greenland Inuit, but it's difficult to tell which of the various descriptions of him are genuine and which are embellishments or inventions of other cultures. A one armed bear-man, like the one in this nineteenth century drawing, seems to be a fairly common representation. Other sources say he is covered in eyes and sees all, or is the size of a finger, or even that he has no form at all.


You'll start to notice that most of Callisto's craters are taken from various northern-latitude mythologies. It's an interesting question why this is the case since the name Callisto itself comes from the more southerly Greco-Roman mythology. But how these crater names are chosen will have to be a topic for another post!

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