Robert wrote:
As long as you're correcting spelling, I'd like to find out about pronunciation. "Valles Marineris" is a name I've seen written for a long time, yet I can't recall hearing it spoken aloud. How do you pronounce "Valles"? Being California-born, I have this powerful tendency to give it the Spanish pronunciation, "Vie-yays", but I think that's the least likely real pronunciation. I suspect Justin spelled it phonetically.

Alex writes:
Since "valles" is a Latin word, I've always pronounced it (and heard it spoken) as "VAL-iss." Interestingly, I wonder how many people know the "correct" pronunciation of Deimos is "DIE-mos" instead of "DEE-mos"? Or that Schiaparelli should be pronounced as "SKAP-uh-relli"?

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii