Anat (crater)
Smallest named crater on Ganymede, defining its longitude system.
Anat is a small impact crater on Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede. With a diameter of about 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles), it is the smallest named crater on the moon. Despite its size, Anat’s center defines the location of Ganymede’s 128° west meridian. All other craters and surface features on the moon have their longitudes measured relative to this point.
**Naming** The crater is named after the major Phoenician goddess Anat. She was the sister of Astarte, the queen of the gods, and of Baal-Hadad, the king of the gods, who was likely also her consort. Anat is depicted as a fiercely warlike deity who delights in battle. Her violent nature is most famously recounted in the Baal Cycle, where after Baal-Hadad is killed by his brother Mot (the god of death and the underworld), Anat attacks Mot. According to Phoenician literature, she dismembers, burns, and scatters Mot’s body, then rescues Baal-Hadad, restores him to life, and brings him back to the surface, allowing spring and life to return. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved the name Anat in 1985, following the convention that all craters on Ganymede be named after deities, heroes, or places from Ancient Near Eastern mythologies.
**Location** Anat sits in the northwestern corner of Babylon Sulci, a broad, bright region of grooved terrain. To the north lies Galileo Regio, an ancient, dark, heavily cratered area. The crater is surrounded by many small craters, but only one nearby—Ninki—is notably large and named. Anat lies within the Memphis Facula quadrangle (designated Jg7) on the hemisphere of Ganymede that always faces away from Jupiter. Because Ganymede rotates synchronously with its orbit, one hemisphere permanently points toward Jupiter and the other away. An observer standing inside Anat would never see Jupiter in the sky.
**Exploration** As of 2026, no spacecraft has flown close to Anat. Voyager 2 first imaged the crater in July 1979, but its small size made details difficult to resolve. The Galileo probe also attempted to photograph it, but its images lacked the resolution to show any surface features.
**Future Missions** The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has been launched to study Jupiter’s icy moons, including Ganymede. It is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2031 and will collect data through flybys of Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.
Quick Facts
- Diameter
- 2.9 km
- Eponym
- Anat
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Anat is named after the major Phoenician goddess Anat, described as the sister of Astarte and Baal-Hadad, and portrayed as an extremely warlike deity who revels in bloodshed. Her violent nature is remembered in the Baal Cycle, where she attacks, dismembers, burns, and scatters the body of Mot, the god of the dead, after he kills Baal-Hadad. She then rescues and restores Baal-Hadad to life, allowing spring to return. The International Astronomical Union approved the name Anat in 1985, following the convention that all craters on Ganymede be named after deities, heroes, and places from Ancient Near Eastern mythologies.
The crater is located in the northwestern corner of the bright, grooved terrain known as Babylon Sulci. To the north lies the dark, ancient, heavily cratered terrain of Galileo Regio. Anat is surrounded by numerous small craters, with only one nearby named crater, Ninki, being noticeably large. The crater lies on the hemisphere of Ganymede that always faces away from Jupiter, so an observer standing within Anat would never see Jupiter in the sky.
Reader's Guide
Anat's significance lies in its role as the fundamental reference point for Ganymede's longitudinal coordinate system. Despite being the smallest named crater on the moon, its center marks the exact location of the 128° W meridian, and the longitudinal coordinates of all other craters and surface features on Ganymede are based on Anat's location. Its small size makes it an ideal reference point. As of 2026, no spacecraft have flown by Anat at close range. Voyager 2 first imaged the crater in July 1979, but its small size made it difficult to resolve. The Galileo spacecraft also attempted to photograph it, but the resolution was insufficient to resolve surface details. The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2031 and settle into a low orbit around Ganymede at an altitude of 500 kilometers in July 2034, expected to return the first close-up, high-resolution images of Anat.
Did You Know?
- Anat is the smallest named crater on Ganymede, with a diameter of approximately 2.9 kilometers.
- The crater's center marks the 128° W meridian, and all other surface features on Ganymede have their longitudes based on Anat.
- The crater is named after the Phoenician goddess Anat, who dismembers and scatters the body of the god Mot in the Baal Cycle.
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