Safronov Regio (formerly Krun Macula) is the westernmost of the "Brass Knuckles", a series of equatorial dark regions on Pluto.
Observation and naming
Safronov Regio was first observed as the
New Horizons spacecraft approached
Pluto and its system of moons. As Pluto rotated, a series of equatorial dark regions were observed and informally nicknamed the
Brass Knuckles,
with Safronov Regio being the westermost of the dark regions. It was initially informally named
Krun Macula after
Krun, the greatest of the five
Mandaeism lords of the underworld.
However, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) instead officially approved the name
Safronov Regio in honor of Russian astronomer
Viktor Safronov, an early proponent of the planetesimal hypothesis for Solar System formation. The name was approved on 22 September 2023.
[
]
Description
Safronov Regio is the third largest equatorial dark region on Pluto, after Belton Regio and Harrington Regio. It extends nearly to 180 degrees longitude, the Plutonian longitude opposite Charon.
In popular culture
Krun Macula is the name of the ship of the character Pluto in Heaven Will Be Mine, a 2018 visual novel.[
]
