International Astronomical Union names lunar crater after Arctic explorer Matthew Henson

·       The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a crater at the Moon's south pole after Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, a black man who discovered and conquered the world's top (Arctic) in 1909.

·       Hansen Crater is located at the south pole of the Moon between de Gerlache and Sverdrup craters.

·       This is the same area on the Moon where NASA's "Artemis program" aims to land its lunar explorers.

·       Matthew Henson was at the forefront of the group's pole exploration during Perry's expedition to reach the North Pole in the Arctic region.

Important facts

About the North Pole

v It is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface.

v It is called the Earth's North Pole to distinguish it from the Magnetic North Pole.

v The first person to reach the North Pole: Robert Peary (6 April 1909)

v The first ships to sail to the pole were the American nuclear submarines Nautilus (1958) and Skate (1959), the latter of which surfaced through the ice, and the Soviet icebreaker Arktika being the first to reach its surface (1977).