Did you know that the town of Kumara has a crater named after it? 

Kumara Crater, Mars

Discovered in 1979, just 360 km from the Voyager 2 lander, this Martian crater is part of a fascinating story.

Mars is pockmarked with impact craters - hundreds of thousands larger than 1 km across - but only about 1,000 of them carry names. These names aren’t given lightly: they’re assigned by the International Astronomical Union after careful petitioning by scientists, and usually only when a crater holds significant research value.

There’s a charming tradition to it as well: Martian craters under 60 km in diameter are named after small towns on Earth with fewer than 100,000 people. Each named crater is, in a sense, a cosmic twin - linking a quiet spot on our planet with a dramatic scar on the Red Planet.

Despite efforts to reach the International Astronomical Union, it remains a mystery who, or why a scientist chose our town to name this crater after.

If you have any more information, please email kumarawebsite@gmail.com