Hawaii Bulletin

Hawaii Bulletin

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Nawahi Crater on Mercury
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Nawahi Crater on Mercury

Ryan Kawailani Ozawa's avatar
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
Nov 27, 2008

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Nawahi Crater on Mercury
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

A crater on the surface of the planet Mercury has been officially named in honor of a historic Hawaiian painter. Nawahi Crater, located in Mercury's Calloris Basin, gets its name from native Hawaiian artist Joseph Kaho'oluhi Nawahiokalaniopu'u. It's one of fifteen names announced last week by NASA's MESSENGER mission, which marks the first visit to Mercury since Mariner 10 in 1974.

Joseph Nawahi lived from 1842 to 1896, and is known as the first native Hawaiian painter to master the Western style. In addition to his paintings (of which only six are known to exist today), he was a newspaper publisher, lawyer, and legislator. A Hawaiian language immersion school in Kea'au is also named in his honor.

The naming of astronomical bodies and features is no simple task. Anyone can submit a name to the International Astronomical Union, but the scientific need must be established and each object in the solar system has it own naming convention. For Mercury specifically, names for craters must be of people who contributed to the art or humanities, have been dead for at least three years, and their work has to have been deemed significant for at least fifty years.

"So for example, John Lennon fits the first two categories but his work has not been significant 50 years, yet," explained Jeffrey Gillis-Davis of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at UH. "So there won't be a John Lennon crater for about another 10 years."

Gillis-Davis is part of the Messenger team, and was behind the naming of Nawahi Crater.

"We try to keep the number of names from each region in the world representative," Gillis-Davis said. "I saw that there were no Hawaiian artists and very few from Oceania (from the Pacific Rim), so doing a little research on people from Hawaii with the help of someone at the Hawaii Academy of Arts we came up with the obvious choice of Joseph of Nawahi."

Scientists and observatories in Hawaii contribute much to astronomy, so it's fitting that there be more Hawaiian names in space.

Gillis-Davis points out that a recently discovered dwarf planet was named Haumea, after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility, to reflect the place where the satellites were discovered. Haumea also has two moons: Hi'iaka and Namaka, named for Haumea's two daughters.

Other craters near Nawahi Crater include Poe (for Edgar Allen Poe) and Dali (for Salvador Dali). Here's a close-up look at Nawahi Crater:

Nawahi Crater

Mahalo to Jeffrey Gillis-Davis for the image and great background on this astronomical honor.


Subscribe to Hawaii Bulletin

By Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · Launched 6 years ago
Island innovation in focus. Hawaii-based science, technology, startups and entrepreneurs, featuring local leaders, creators, educators, and more.

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Nawahi Crater on Mercury
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Gallery: ThriveHI Pau Hana
A sold-out crowd of Honolulu-based tech workers (and their friends) packed the courtyard of Honolulu Beerworks in Kaka‘ako yesterday.
Apr 14, 2023 â€¢ 
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
13

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Gallery: ThriveHI Pau Hana
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Preview: Hawaii Angels Turns 22
The leading investment network for seed-level private equity investors in Hawaii starts a new chapter in 2024.
Jan 15, 2024 â€¢ 
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
3

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Preview: Hawaii Angels Turns 22
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Hub Coworking Expands to Entrepreneurs Sandbox
Cofounder Nam Vu looks back at the pandemic and shares his bright vision for the remote-work future.
Apr 22, 2023 â€¢ 
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
7

Share this post

Hawaii Bulletin
Hawaii Bulletin
Hub Coworking Expands to Entrepreneurs Sandbox
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
2

Ready for more?

© 2025 Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.