Kathmandu : The International Astronomical Union has named a crater in the Mars in tribute to Langtang, one of the worst-hit villages in the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
The name of the 9.8 km crater was approved by the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature on June 14, reports the Himalayan Times.
At least 215 people were killed in Langtang village after the quake triggered an avalanche that submerged the village.
The researcher behind the move, Tjalling de Haas, said the name was “a tribute” to the Nepali village.
de Haas, who studies Mars’s physical geography at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, reportedly said that he chose Langtang because his colleague had worked there while studying Himalayan glaciers. (ANI)