[1] Part of Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan takes place on Mercury.

The crater was referred to as e5 in scientific literature prior to naming.

[2] S band radar data from the Arecibo Observatory collected between 1999 and 2005 indicates a radar-bright area along the southern interior of Vonnegut, which is probably indicative of a water ice deposit, and lies within the permanently shadowed part of the crater.

[3][4][5] MESSENGER's Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) was used to measure surface reflectance of the surface of the planet, and the radar-bright material is covered by low-reflectance material.

[2] Vonnegut is north of the slightly larger Yoshikawa crater.