Pahinui (crater)

{{short description|Crater on Mercury}}

{{Infobox crater data

| title = Pahinui

| image = Pahinui crater EN0220635824M.jpg

| caption = MESSENGER image

| globe = Mercury

| coordinates = {{coord|28.16|S|213.21|W|globe:mercury_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| diameter = {{cvt|54|km}}

| eponym = Gabby Pahinui

}}

Pahinui is a crater on Mercury. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2016, after the Hawaiian musician, Charles Phillip Kahahawai "Gabby" Pahinui.{{cite web |url = http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15103 |title = Pahinui |publisher = IAU/NASA/USGS |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |accessdate = 18 January 2020}}

There is a rimless, irregular depression in the center of Pahinui, making it a pit-floor crater. Such a feature may have resulted from the collapse of a magma chamber underlying the central part of the crater.{{cite journal|last1=Gillis-Davis|first1=Jeffrey J.|last2=Blewett|first2=David T.|last3=Gaskell|first3=Robert W.|last4=Denevi|first4=Brett W.|last5=Robinson|first5=Mark S.|last6=Strom|first6=Robert G.|last7=Solomon|first7=Sean C.|last8=Sprague|first8=Ann L.|title=Pit-floor craters on Mercury: Evidence of near-surface igneous activity|date=2009|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|volume=285|issue=3-4|pages=243–250|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.023|bibcode=2009E&PSL.285..243G}}

To the west of Pahinui is Coatl Facula, a bright area within an unnamed crater.{{cite web |url = http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15919 |title = Coatl Facula |publisher = IAU/NASA/USGS |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |accessdate = 30 August 2023}}