Selk (crater)

{{short description|Impact crater on the moon Titan}}

{{Infobox feature on celestial object

| name = Selk

| image = Selk crater on Titan.jpg

| caption = A radar image of Selk by the Cassini probe

| location = Titan

| type = Impact crater

| coordinates = {{coord|7.0|N|199.0|W|globe:titan_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| diameter = 90 km

| eponym = Serket

| discoverer = Cassini

}}

Selk is a crater on Titan, a moon of Saturn, located at 7°N 199°W. It is a geologically young impact crater that measures approximately {{convert|90|km}} in diameter."Geology of the Selk crater region on Titan from Cassini VIMS observations." J.M. Soderblom, R.H. Brown, L.A. Soderblom, J.W. Barnes, R. Jaumann, Stéphane Le Mouélic, Christophe Sotin, K. Stephan, K.H. Baines, B.J. Buratti, R.N. Clark, and P.D. Nicholson. Icarus. Volume 208, Issue 2, August 2010, Pages 905-912. {{doi|10.1016/j.icarus.2010.03.001}}

There is evidence of the past presence of organic compounds and liquid water in the crater, which is set to be studied in the planned Dragonfly mission.{{cite press release |last1=Hautaluoma |first1=Grey |last2=Johnson |first2=Alana |date=27 June 2019 |title=NASA's Dragonfly Will Fly Around Titan Looking for Origins, Signs of Life |url=https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasas-dragonfly-will-fly-around-titan-looking-for-origins-signs-of-life |agency=NASA |access-date=2019-08-16}} The initial landing site will be in the dunes to the Southeast of Selk.{{cite journal | url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/abd08f | doi=10.3847/PSJ/abd08f | title=Selection and Characteristics of the Dragonfly Landing Site near Selk Crater, Titan | year=2021 | last1=Lorenz | first1=Ralph D. | last2=MacKenzie | first2=Shannon M. | last3=Neish | first3=Catherine D. | last4=Gall | first4=Alice Le | last5=Turtle | first5=Elizabeth P. | last6=Barnes | first6=Jason W. | last7=Trainer | first7=Melissa G. | last8=Werynski | first8=Alyssa | last9=Hedgepeth | first9=Joshua | last10=Karkoschka | first10=Erich | journal=The Planetary Science Journal | volume=2 | issue=1 | page=24 | bibcode=2021PSJ.....2...24L | s2cid=233934724 | doi-access=free }}

The crater is named after Serket, a goddess in Egyptian mythology, and was formally approved by the IAU in 2008.{{cite web |title=Selk |url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/14334 |website=Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |publisher=International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) |accessdate=15 August 2019}}