Íslenzka.net ~ An Icelandic Journey

The International Astronomical Union has approved a proposal to name a crater on Mercury after Icelandic Nobel Prize winning author Halldór Laxness. He joins several other Icelanders who have also had craters on Mercury named after them, like Snorri Sturluson, and artists Júlíana Sveinsdóttir and Nína Tryggvadóttir. The proposal came from the MESSENGER team at NASA, which manages the probe in orbit around the first planet. MESSENGER was the first spacecraft to ever orbit Mercury.

Gígur nefndur eftir Halldóri Laxness
Crater named after Halldor Laxness

Örnefnanefnd Alþjóðasambands stjarnfræðinga samþykkti í vikunni tillögu vísindamanna að nefna gíg á Merkúr eftir Halldóri Kiljan Laxness. Vísindamennirnir starfa við MESSENGER leiðangur Nasa en samnefnt geimfar hefur verið á braut um reikistjörnuna frá því í mars árið 2011.

The naming committee of the International Astronomical Union approved a proposal this week to name a crater on Mercury after Halldor Kiljan Laxness. The scientists work on the MESSENGER project at NASA, and the probe by the same name has been in orbit around the planet since March of 2011.

So apparently að vera á braut um means to be in orbit around something 🙂

The very first word was a bit confusing since the compound contains two words with the string nefn – look at it as örnefna·nefnd. Since there’s a lot of naming going on, here’s the verb:

Gígurinn, sem kemur til með að heita Laxness, er tæplega tuttugu og sex kílómetrar í þvermál og er staddur skammt norðan við norðurpól reikistjörnunnar. Fleiri gígar á Merkúr eru nefndir eftir heimsþekktum látnum listamönnum, tónlistamönnum, rithöfundum eða öðrum sem sett hafa mark sitt á menningu og listir mannkynsins. Íslendingar áttu fyrir nokkra fulltrúa á reikistjörnunni en gígar hafa einnig verið nefndir eftir sagnaritaranum Snorra Sturlusyni, listakonunni Júlíönu Sveinsdóttur og myndlistarkonunni Nínu Tryggvadóttur.

The crater, which will be called Laxness, is almost 26 kilometers in diameter and situated just below the north pole of the planet. Other craters on Mercury are named after well-known deceased artists, musicians, writers or others who have left their mark on the art and culture of mankind. Icelanders have several representatives on the planet and craters have also been named after historian Snorri Sturluson, artist Júlíana Sveinsdóttir and visual artist Nína Tryggvadóttir.

I think I got the location right, but wasn’t sure. Skammt is short, and norðan should mean from the north, so near the north pole? I’m guessing it can’t be north of the north pole 🙂

The phrase kemur til með að was new to me, it’s mainly expressing that something is going to happen, or will cause something to happen.

ör·nefni n (-s,-)                       place name
nefnd f (-ar,-ir)                       committee, board
samband n (-bands,-bönd)                union
tillaga f (-lögu,-lögur)                proposal, motion
gígur m (-s,-ir/-ar)                    crater
leiðangur m (-urs,-rar)                 expedition
samnefndur adj                          having the same name
geimfar n (-fars,-för)                  spaceship
reikistjarna f (-stjörnu,-stjörnur)     planet
þver·mál n (-s,-)                       diameter
skammt adv                              short, shortly
full·trúi m (-a,-ar)                    representative
sagna·ritari m (-a,-ar)                 historian, chronicler
mynd·list f (-ar)                       visual arts