The South London neighbourhood of Tooting has lent its name to a massive crater on Mars, plunging nearly 4,000 feet deep and spanning almost 17 and a half miles in width. The crater was discovered in 2005 by scientist Pete Mouginis-Mark, who spent his formative years in the area before naming the celestial feature after his childhood neighbourhood.
Discovery and naming of the Tooting Crater
Pete Mouginis-Mark, who was serving as acting director of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the time, identified the crater and chose to name it Tooting. The crater, located 140 million miles from London, is notably lacking in public transport, unlike its earthly counterpart. The naming follows a long-standing tradition of craters being named after UK towns, with Tooting joining the likes of Maidstone and Crewe.
Adjacent to the Tooting Crater sits one of the red planet's smaller river valleys, which reportedly reminded Mouginis-Mark of Tooting Bec, a place he left behind in 1970. He commented on the naming decision: "I thought my mum and brother would get a kick out of having their home town paired with a land form on Mars."
Reactions and historical context
Sadiq Khan, who was the MP for Tooting at the time and has not claimed any crater-naming rights himself, acknowledged the excitement surrounding the cosmic connection. He remarked: "This is getting a lot of attention, not only because of its twinning to our fantastic area, but also because this is probably the youngest large meteorite crater on Mars."
Tooting is thought to have derived its name from the people of Tota, suggesting that Tota may well have been their leader. This implies that an Anglo-Saxon man has, albeit indirectly, had a crater named in his honour. While Tota is no longer alive, one suspects he would have been pleased with the distinction.
