The Horizon Deep is named for which research vessel?

The Horizon Deep is named after the research vessel Horizon.

Horizon was operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and became one of the pioneering postwar oceanographic research ships. Its crew discovered and surveyed the deep in the Tonga Trench during the Capricorn Expedition in December 1952.

The Tonga Trench lies in the southwestern Pacific where the Pacific Plate is subducted beneath the Tonga Plate. Horizon Deep reaches roughly 10,800 metres and is the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the second-deepest known point in the world after Challenger Deep.

The vessel’s name also appears on several other undersea features, including Horizon Guyot, Horizon Channel, Horizon Bank and Horizon Ridge. In June 2019, Victor Vescovo piloted DSV Limiting Factor to the bottom of Horizon Deep and measured approximately 10,823 metres. The descent helped confirm the site’s status among Earth’s deepest ocean locations.