Craters on Mercury, Venus, the Moon but also asteroids and comets bear names of famous Romanian in different fields, such as national poet Mihai Eminescu, composer George Enescu, sculptor Constantin Brancusi and singer Hariclea Darclée, according to statistics presented by the Astronomical Observatory ’Amiral Vasile Urseanu’ .

In April 2008, a crater on Mercury was named after Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. The crater has 125 km in diameter and was formed more recently than the rest of craters on Mercury.

The first Romanian name on Venus belongs to Romanian poetess Elena Văcărescu. The crater, located in the southern hemisphereof the planet, has a diameter of 31.5 km and was named Elena Vacarescu in 1994.

Another Romanian name on Venus is that os Hariclea Darclée, a famous Romanian soprano. It was  given to a volcanic formation called "patera", with a diameter of 15 km. The name was approved in 2003.

The only Moon crater with a Romanian name is called Haret,  after the mathematician-astronomer Spiru Haret.

On the other hand, comets are called after their discoverer, and so far only one Romanian has achieved this performance, Victor Daimaca, a professor of mathematics in Targu-Jiu, passionate about astronomy.

Alex Camburu, alex.camburu@romania-insider.com

photo source: http://www.astro-urseanu.ro