CCSD3ZF0000100000001NJPL3IF0PDSX00000001                                      

PDS_VERSION_ID                 = PDS3                                         

RECORD_TYPE                    = FIXED_LENGTH                                 

RECORD_BYTES                   = 80                                           

OBJECT                         = TEXT                                         

  PUBLICATION_DATE             = 1996-12-16                                   

  NOTE                         = "Venus list of IAU-approved named features." 

END_OBJECT                     = TEXT                                         

END                                                                           

                                                                              

                                                                              

                           TABLE OF CONTENTS                                  

                                                                              

                                                                              

    Introduction                                                              

                                                                              

    How names become approved                                                 

                                                                              

    IAU rules and conventions                                                 

                                                                              

    Description of Gazetteer table                                            

                                                                              

Appendix 1.  Key to Gazetteer fields                                          

Appendix 2.  List of descriptors (feature types)                              

Appendix 3.  Diacritics used in the table                                     

                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                              

                             INTRODUCTION                                     

                                                                              

Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is used to             

uniquely identify a feature on the surface of a planet or                     

satellite so that the feature can be easily located, described,               

or discussed.  This digital gazetteer file was compiled expressly             

for the Magellan full-resolution CD-ROMS and contains detailed                

nomenclature information about the features on Venus named and                

approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).                       

                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                              

                       HOW NAMES BECOME APPROVED                              

                                                                              

Anyone--either scientist or layman--may suggest a name for a                  

planetary feature or ask that a specific feature be named.                    

Candidate names are reviewed by the appropriate Task Group                    

operating under the IAU's Working Group for Planetary System                  

Nomenclature. Names considered appropriate by a Task Group are                

submitted to the Working Group, which meets once a year. The                  

Working Group transmits its list of recommended names to the                  

yearly meeting of the IAU's Executive  Committee, which checks                

the names for conformity to IAU standards. Successful candidate               

names are then presented for adoption to the IAU's General                    

Assembly, which meets triennially.  A name is not considered to               

be official, that is, "adopted," until the General Assembly has               

given its approval. Names recommended by the Working Group, but               

not yet approved by the Executive Committee, are considered                   

"provisional," and may be used in publications provided that                  

their provisional status is somehow indicated. Suggestions for                

naming a specific feature or requests that a specific name be                 

used should be sent to the president of the Working Group, to the             

chairman of the appropriate Task Group, or to the USGS Branch of              

Astrogeology.                                                                 

                                                                              

                       IAU RULES AND CONVENTIONS                              

                                                                              

Names adopted by the IAU must follow various rules and                        

conventions established through the years by the Union. Rules for             

Venus names include the following:                                            

1.   Nomenclature is a tool and the first consideration should                

     be to make it simple, clear, and unambiguous.                            

2.   Although there will be some exceptions, duplication of the               

     same name on two or more bodies should be avoided.                       

3.   Solar system nomenclature should be international in its                 

     choice of names.                                                         

4.   No names having political, military or religious                         

     significance, or names of modern philosophers may be                     

     used. Names of political figures prior to the 19th                       

     Century are acceptable.                                                  

5.   Persons being honored must have been deceased for at least               

     three years before his/her name can be assigned to a                     

     feature.  Exceptions to this rule were made for living                   

     astronauts and cosmonauts because their contributions to                 

     space exploration were unique.                                           

6.   Diacritical marks are a necessary part of a name, and will               

     be used.                                                                 

                                                                              

In addition to these general rules, the Working Group has                     

formulated a set of naming conventions for each planet and/or                 

satellite. Conventions for Venus are as follows:                              

                                                                              

     Chasmata  Goddesses of the hunt, Moon goddesses                          

     Colles    Miscellaneous goddesses                                        

     Coronae   Fertility and earth goddesses                                  

     Craters   Over 20 km, famous women; under 20 km, common                  

               female first names                                             

     Dorsa     Sky goddesses                                                  

     Farra     Water goddesses                                                

     Fluctus   Miscellaneous goddesses                                        

     Lineae    Goddesses of war                                               

     Montes    Miscellaneous goddesses                                        

     Paterae   Famous women                                                   

     Planitiae Mythological heroines                                          

     Plana     Goddess of prosperity                                          

     Regiones  Giantesses and Titanesses                                      

     Reticula  Nymphs                                                         

     Rupes     Goddesses of hearth and home                                   

     Terrae    Goddesses of love                                              

     Tesserae  Goddesses of fate or fortune                                   

     Tholus    Miscellaneous goddesses                                        

     Valles    Word for planet Venus in various world languages;              

               water goddesses for smaller valles                             

                                                                              

                      DESCRIPTION OF GAZETTEER TABLE                          

                                                                              

The gazetteer (file: [GAZETTER]GAZETTER.TAB) is a table of                    

geographical  features for a planet.  It contains information                 

about a named feature such as location and origin of feature                  

name. The Gazetteer Table contains one row for each feature named             

on Venus.  The table is formatted so that it may be read directly             

into many data management systems on various host computers.  All             

fields (columns) are separated by commas. Each record consists of             

372 bytes, with a carriage return/line feed sequence in bytes 371             

and 372.  This allows the table to be treated as a fixed length               

record file on hosts that support this file type and as a normal              

text file on other hosts.                                                     

                                                                              

All gazetteer information is included on all volumes of the                   

Magellan full-resolution collection.  The gazetteer table is                  

located in the directory GAZETTER under the name GAZETTER.TAB                 

(file: [GAZETTER]GAZETTER.TAB).  The label file is named                      

GAZETTER.LBL under the same directory.  The gazetteer has two                 

feature name fields with and without diacritical marks.  The                  

first is SEARCH_FEATURE_NAME which is the geographical feature                

name with all diacritical marks stripped off.  This name is                   

stored in upper case only so that it can be used for sorting and              

search purposes.  This field should not be used to designate the              

name of the feature because it does not contain the diacritical               

marks.  Feature names not containing diacritical marks can often              

take on a completely different meaning and in some cases the                  

meaning can be deeply offensive.  The second field is called                  

DIACRITIC_FEATURE_NAME which is the geographical feature name                 

containing standard diacritical information.  Please refer to                 

Appendix 3 for list of gazetteer diacritical marks.  A                        

description of the gazetteer follows in Appendix 1.                           

                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                              

                              APPENDIX 1                                      

                                                                              

                          KEY TO GAZETTEER FIELDS                             

                                                                              

       NAME                DATA     DESCRIPTION                               

                           TYPE                                               

-----------------------------------------------------------------             

SEARCH_FEATURE_NAME        CHAR   The geographical                            

                                  feature name with all                       

                                  diacritical marks                           

                                  stripped off.  This                         

                                  name is stored in                           

                                  upper case only so                          

                                  that it can be used                         

                                  for sorting and search                      

                                  purposes.                                   

                                                                              

DIACRITIC_FEATURE_NAME     CHAR   The geographical                            

                                  feature name                                

                                  containing standard                         

                                  diacritical                                 

                                  information.  Refer to                      

                                  Appendix 3 for a                            

                                  discussion of the                           

                                  storage scheme and                          

                                  specification of                            

                                  diacritical marks in                        

                                  this field.                                 

                                                                              

CENTER_LATITUDE            REAL   The center_latitude                         

                                  element specifies                           

                                  center latitude                             

                                  of a named feature.                         

                                                                              

CENTER_LONGITUDE           REAL   The center_longitude                        

                                  element specifies the                       

                                  center longitude                            

                                  of a named feature.                         

                                                                              

FEATURE_STATUS_TYPE        CHAR   The IAU approval                            

                                  status of the named                         

                                  feature.  Permitted                         

                                  values are 'PROPOSED',                      

                                  'PROVISIONAL',                              

                                  'IAU-APPROVED',                             

                                  and 'DROPPED'.                              

                                                                              

FEATURE_TYPE               CHAR   The IAU feature type                        

                                  descriptor. Refer to Appendix 2             

                                  for type names.                             

                                                                              

FEATURE_DESCRIPTION        CHAR   Short description of the                    

                                  feature name.                               

                                                                              

                              APPENDIX 2                                      

                                                                              

                DESCRIPTOR TERMS (field: FEATURE_TYPE)                        

                                                                              

     FEATURE (plural)                 DESCRIPTION                             

             -------                 -----------                              

      CHASMA (chasmata)              Canyon                                   

      COLLES                         Small hill or knob                       

      CORONA (coronae)               Ovoid-shaped feature                     

      CRATER                         Crater                                   

      DORSUM (dorsa)                 Ridge                                    

      FARRUM (farra)                 Pancake-shaped structures                

      FLUCTUS                        Flow terrain                             

      LINEA                          Elongate marking                         

      MONS (montes)                  Mountain                                 

      PATERA (paterae)               Shallow crater; scalloped, complex       

                                     edge                                     

      PLANITIA                       Low plain                                

      PLANUM (plana)                 Plateau or high plain                    

      REGIO                          Region                                   

      RETICULUM (reticula)           Reticular (netlike) pattern              

      RUPES                          Scarp                                    

      TERRA                          Extensive land mass                      

      TESSERA (tesserae)             Tile; polygonal ground                   

      THOLUS (tholi)                 Small domical mountain or hill           

      VALLIS (valles)                Valley                                   

                                                                              

                                                                              

                              APPENDIX 3                                      

                                                                              

                    DIACRITICS USED IN THE TABLE                              

                                                                              

The word diacritic comes from a Greek word meaning to separate.               

It refers to the accent marks employed to separate, or                        

distinguish, one form of pronunciation of a vowel or consonant                

from another.                                                                 

                                                                              

This note is included to familiarize the user with the codes used             

to represent diacritics found in the table, and the values                    

usually associated with them. In the table, the code for a                    

diacritic is preceded by a backslash and is followed, without a               

space, by the letter it is modifying.                                         

                                                                              

This note is organized as follows: the code is listed first,                  

followed by the name of the accent mark, if applicable; a brief               

description of the appearance of the diacritic and a short                    

narrative on its usage.                                                       

                                                                              

\%  acute accent; a straight diagonal line extending from upper               

    right to lower left. The acute accent is used in most                     

    languages to lengthen a vowel; in some, such as Oscan, to                 

    denote an open vowel.  The acute is also often used to                    

    indicate the stressed syllable; in some transcriptions it                 

    indicates a palatalized consonant.                                        

                                                                              

\:  diaeresis or umlaut; two dots surmounting the letter. In                  

    Romance languages and English, the diaeresis is used to                   

    indicate that consecutive vowels do not form a dipthong (see              

    below); in modern German and Scandinavian languages, it                   

    denotes palatalization of vowels.                                         

                                                                              

\^  circumflex; a chevron or inverted 'v' shape, with the apex at             

    the top. Used most often in modern languages to indicate                  

    lengthening of a vowel.                                                   

                                                                              

\~  tilde; a curving or waving line above the letter. The tilde               

    is a form of circumflex. The tilde is used most often in                  

    Spanish to form a palatalized n as in the word 'ano',                     

    pronounced 'anyo'.  It is also used occasionally to indicate              

    nasalized vowels.                                                         

                                                                              

\-  macron; a straight line above the letter. The macron is used              

    almost universally to lengthen a vowel.                                   

                                                                              

\u  breve; a concave semicircle or 'u' shape surmounting the                  

    letter. Originally used in Greek, the breve indicates a short             

    vowel.                                                                    

                                                                              

\o  a small circle or 'o' above the letter. Frequently used in                

    Scandinavian languages to indicate a broad 'o'.                           

                                                                              

\ae dipthong or ligature; transcribed as two letters in contact               

    with each other. The dipthong is a combination of vowels that             

    are pronounced together.                                                  

                                                                              

\,  cedilla; a curved line surmounted by a vertical line, placed              

    at the bottom of the letter. The cedilla is used in Spanish               

    and French to denote a dental, or soft, 'c'. In the new                   

    Turkish transcription, 'c' cedilla has the value of English               

    'ch'. In Semitic languages, the cedilla under a consonant                 

    indicates that it is emphatic.                                            

                                                                              

\v  check or inverted circumflex; a 'v' shape above the letter.               

    This accent is used widely in Slavic languages to indicate a              

    palatal articulation, like the consonant sounds in the                    

    English words chapter and shoe and the 'zh' sound in                      

    pleasure.                                                                 

                                                                              

\.  a single dot above the letter. This diacritic denotes                     

    various things; in Lithuanian, it indicates a close long                  

    vowel. In Sanskrit, when used with 'n', it is a velar sound,              

    as in the English 'sink'; in Irish orthography, it indicates              

    a fricative consonant (see below).                                        

                                                                              

\'  accent grave; a diagonal line (above the letter) extending                

    from upper left to lower right. The grave accent is used in               

    French, Spanish and Italian to denote open vowels.                        

                                                                              

\_  fricative; a horizontal line through a consonant. A                       

    fricative consonant is characterized by a frictional                      

    rustling of the breath as it is emitted.