A 9.8 kilometers wide crater on Mars named after Nepal quake-hit village Langtang

The International Astronomical Union in June 2016 named a 9.8 kilometers wide crater on Mars as Langtang, a popular trekking site in Nepal.

Langtang is one of the villages of Nepal that was worst hit by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. As per reports, at least 215 people were killed in the village after the quake triggered an avalanche.

The researcher behind the move, Dr. Tjalling de Haas, said that he chose this name because his colleague had worked there while studying Himalayan glaciers. It was his base camp for a long period, so we said may be it is a nice tribute.

Dr de Haas, who studies Mars's physical geography at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, has named another crater as Bunnik, his hometown in Utrecht.

Both names were approved by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature.