NASAの水星探査機メッセンジャーの3月26日付ニュースより。
Newly Named Mercury Craters Honor Hawaiian Guitarist, Beloved Young Adult Author
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=238
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) ― the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919 ― recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to nine impact craters on Mercury. In keeping with the established naming theme for craters on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other contributors to the humanities.
国際天文学会(IAU)がメッセンジャーの探索チームが提案していた、９つのクレーターの命名を承認。
で、そのうちの一つが
Lovecraft, for Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century. He popularized "cosmic horror," the notion that some concepts, entities, or experiences are barely comprehensible to human minds, and those who delve into such topics risk their sanity.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=238
説明文の中に"cosmic horror"とか"sanity"とかの単語もしっかりと登場。
「水星にある、ラヴクラフト・クレーターが……」というのが、現実のことを語る言葉になったというわけだ。
もっとも、このチームは色々と命名していて、去年は「ディズニー」とかも付けていたりする。
