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NOT the Source of Lunar Nomenclature
9.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
In 1647, Johannes Hevelius made the second major chart of the Moon that showed and named identifiable features - Langrenus was first in 1645. Using a 12 ft long, 50 power telescope Hevelius made three maps - including a full Moon view - the eastern half of which is seen here.
Splayed Rays
8.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Did you ever put a magnet under a sheet of paper and sprinkle iron fillings on top? Did you ever do it with three magnets? If so youd get something similar to this high sun view of rays splaying out from Copernicus (top right), Kepler (lower center) and Aristarchus (middle left).
Buried and Textured
7.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
The Apollo 14 landing site (red arrow) may be the least interesting feature in this image. The hilly terrain is ejecta from the impact that excavated the Imbrium basin and two things (actually many more, but only two today!) are fascinating about it.
A Handy New Map
6.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
For a thousand years, or at least a few decades, Sky & Telescope has sold a small blue map of the Moon, originally published (as Mappa Selenographica) in 1926 by the Czech selenographer Karel Andel.
Grimaldi Dome
5.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Grimaldi is a small impact basin always seen as a chubby ellipse because of its location near the western limb. It is more easily recognized when the sun is high and its mare patch makes a distinctive dark spot.
Musical Nomenclature
4.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Here's one of Apollo 15's most interesting orbital lunar images showing the well-known area near the remains of the flooded crater Prinz and the system of rilles to the north of it.
LPOD of the Month - April 2005
3.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Here is the LPOD Image of the Month for April 2005! It is a great view of Archimedes and surrounding terrain under dramatic low sun illumination. Congratulations to Tim for an excellent image greatly enjoyed by LPODites! I also thank the 10 readers who voted for 11 different images.
A Perfect LPOD Image
2.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Imagers sometimes ask me, What do you need a picture of for LPOD? I have a difficult time selecting a few objects to recomend because there are thousands of lunar features that still lack high quality images from terrestrial telescopes (and sometimes from orbital ones as well).
Rayless Crater
1.05.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Rayed craters are rayless at low illuminations, but this view of Kepler is intermediate between low and high so that both the topography and rays are visible. Kepler itself is a small (32 km diameter) and young complex crater.Its walls have collapsed and slid toward the floor, piling up both amorphous mounds and discontinous terraces.
More Jewels from the Vault
30.04.2005 | Lunnoe foto dnya
Over the last few years the Lunar & Planetary Institute in Houston has performed an invaluable service for professional and amateur lunar scientists by placing online digitized versions of long unavailable maps and images. Now they have dug into NASAs vaults and digitized more seldom-seen maps and documents.