Shu (crater)
crater on Ganymede
Shu is a prominent bright ray impact crater in the northern hemisphere of Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter. The crater is approximately 44 kilometres (27 mi) in diameter, and its bright ray system extends for several hundred kilometers in all directions.
Naming
Shu is named after the Ancient Egyptian god of the air and wind, Shu. He is the firstborn son of Ra, the sun god and king of the Egyptian gods. The Ancient Egyptians believed that, as the god of the air and wind, Shu separated the earth (the god Geb) from the sky (the goddess Nut), and he fills the space in between the two.
The crater's name follows the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) naming convention, under which craters and other surface features on Ganymede are named after deities, heroes, and places from Ancient Near Eastern mythology, including Ancient Egyptian mythology.
The name for Shu was approved by the IAU in 1988.
Location
Shu is located in the mid-latitudes of Ganymede's northern hemisphere. It lies almost exactly on the eastern boundary of the dark region Perrine Regio. Its bright ray system extends across much of the surrounding dark terrain, making the crater stand out prominently.
The public source identifies “Shu (crater)” as crater on Ganymede. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around crater and Ganymede.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25908171. Authority coordinates are 43.160, -356.840. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shu (crater)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.