by Nicole Kiefert
This holiday season, give the gift of planets!
Uwingu's promotional poster // Alan Stern
Uwingu, a team of scientists dedicated to connect people with space exploration, is allowing people to name martian craters on the Uwingu Mars map, along with other unique gifts.
One of the gift options is to name a martian crater, part of an Uwingu project to create a new Mars map and name all 500,000 unnamed features. Craters to be named range in size from about half a mile (under one kilometer) to 200 miles (350 kilometers).
Crater certificates are available once the craters have been named; they can either be downloaded or framed and mailed, allowing about 10 days for framing and shipping.
Half of the proceeds will contribute to the Uwingu Fund, which gives money to space research and education grants to researchers and space organizations.
Not only can you name martian craters, but exoplanets as well. Gift cards are also available for purchase. Craters can be named for anyone or anything, from friends to pets to musical artists. Naming a crater makes a great gift for astronomy lovers of all ages.
Find out more at www.uwingu.com.