Futabatei is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 57 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the

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in 1976. Futabatei is named for the Japanese novelist

Futabatei Shimei was a Japanese writer, translator, and literary critic. His writings are in the realist style popular in the mid to late 19th century. His work '' The Drifting Cloud'' (''Ukigumo'', 1887) is widely regarded as Japan's first modern novel. Bi ...

, who lived from 1864 to 1909. The crater was first imaged by

Mariner 10 ''Mariner 10'' was an American Robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe launched by NASA on 3 November 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury (planet), Mercury and Venus. It was the first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets. ''Marin ...

in 1974. Futabatei is one of the largest craters of the Kuiperian system on Mercury. The largest is Bartók crater.Denevi, B. W., Ernst, C. M., Prockter, L. M., and Robinson, M. S., 2018. The Geologic History of Mercury. In ''Mercury: The View After

MESSENGER Messenger, Messengers, The Messenger or The Messengers may refer to: People * Courier, a person or company that delivers messages, packages, or mail * Messenger (surname) * Bicycle messenger, a bicyclist who transports packages through cities * M ...

'' edited by Sean C. Solomon, Larry R. Nittler, and Brian J. Anderson. Cambridge Planetary Science. Chapter 6, Table 6.4. Futabatei is east of the larger

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crater, and northwest of the large basin

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

References

Impact craters on Mercury {{Mercury-planet-stub