Topography of the Moon

Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon. Historically, the principal concern of selenographists was the mapping and naming of the lunar maria, craters, mountain ranges, and other various features. This task was largely finished when high resolution images of the near and far sides of the Moon were obtained by orbiting spacecraft during the early space era. Nevertheless, some regions of the Moon remain poorly imaged (especially near the poles) and the exact locations of many features (like crater depths) are uncertain by several kilometers. Today, selenography is considered to be a subdiscipline of selenology, which itself is most often referred to as simply "lunar science." The word selenography is derived from the Greek lunar deity Σελήνη Selene and γράφω graphō, "I write".

"Lunar Day", from the book Recreations in Astronomy by H. D. Warren D. D., 1879. Later study showed that the surface features are much more rounded due to a long history of impacts.

The idea that the Moon is not perfectly smooth originates to at least c. 450 BC, when Democritus asserted that the Moon's "lofty mountains and hollow valleys" were the cause of its markings.[2] However, not until the end of the 15th century AD did serious study of selenography begin. Around AD 1603, William Gilbert made the first lunar drawing based on naked-eye observation. Others soon followed, and when the telescope was invented, initial drawings of poor accuracy were made, but soon thereafter improved in tandem with optics. In the early 18th century, the librations of the Moon were measured, which revealed that more than half of the lunar surface was visible to observers on Earth. In 1750, Johann Meyer produced the first reliable set of lunar coordinates that permitted astronomers to locate lunar features.

Lunar mapping became systematic in 1779 when Johann Schröter began meticulous observation and measurement of lunar topography. In 1834 Johann Heinrich von Mädler published the first large cartograph (map) of the Moon, comprising 4 sheets in size, and he subsequently published The Universal Selenography.[3] All lunar measurement was based on direct observation until March 1840, when J.W. Draper, using a 5 inch reflector, produced a daguerreotype of the Moon and thus introduced photography to astronomy. At first, the images were of very poor quality, but as with the telescope 200 years earlier, their quality rapidly improved. By 1890 lunar photography had become a recognized subdiscipline of astronomy.

The 20th century witnessed more advances in selenography. In 1959, the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 transmitted the first photographs of the far side of the Moon, giving the first view of it in history. The United States of America launched the Ranger spacecraft between 1961 and 1965 to photograph the lunar surface until the instant they impacted it, the Lunar Orbiters between 1966 and 1967 to photograph the Moon from orbit, and the Surveyors between 1966 and 1968 to photograph and softly land on the lunar surface. The Soviet Lunokhods 1 (1970) and 2 (1973) traversed almost 50 km of the lunar surface, making detailed photographs of the lunar surface. The Clementine spacecraft obtained the first nearly global cartograph (map) of the lunar topography, and also multispectral images. Successive missions transmitted photographs of increasing resolution.

Michiel van Langren's map of the Moon, 1645

Map of the Moon by Johannes Hevelius (1647)

The oldest known illustration of the Moon was found in a passage grave in Knowth, County Meath, Ireland. The tomb was carbon dated to 3330–2790 BC.[4] Leonardo da Vinci made and annotated some sketches of the Moon in c. 1500. William Gilbert made a drawing of the Moon in which he denominated a dozen surface features in the late 16th century; it was published posthumously In De Mondo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova. After the invention of the telescope, Thomas Harriot (1609), Galileo Galilei (1609), and Charles Scheiner (1614) made drawings also.[5]

Michiel Florent van Langren was an early-modern pioneer in the history of lunar cartography and selenography.[6] The first serious denominations of the surface features of the Moon, based on telescopic observation, were made by Van Langren in 1645. His work is considered the first true cartograph (map) of the Moon because it demarcated the various lunar maria, craters, and mountains and ranges.[7][8] Many of his denominations were distinctly Catholic, denominating craters in honor of Catholic royalty and capes and promontories in honor of Catholic saints. The lunar maria were denominated in Latin for terrestrial seas and oceans. Minor craters were denominated in honor of astronomers, mathematicians, and other famous scholars.

A study of the Moon from Robert Hooke's Micrographia of 1665

In 1647, Johannes Hevelius produced the rival work Selenographia, which was the first lunar atlas. Hevelius ignored the nomenclature of Van Langren and instead denominated the lunar topography according to terrestrial features, such that the names of lunar features corresponded to the toponyms of their geographical terrestrial counterparts, especially as the latter were denominated by the ancient Roman and Greek civilizations. This work of Hevelius influenced his contemporary European astronomers, and the Selenographia was the standard reference on selenography for over a century.

Giambattista Riccioli, SJ, a Catholic priest and scholar who lived in northern Italy authored the present scheme of Latin lunar nomenclature. His Almagestum novum was published in 1651 as summary of then current astronomical thinking and recent developments. In particular he outlined the arguments in favor of and against various cosmological models, both heliocentric and geocentric. Almagestum Novum contained scientific reference matter based on contemporary knowledge, and contemporary educators across Europe widely used it. Although this handbook of astronomy has long since been superseded, its system of lunar nomenclature is used even today.

The lunar illustrations in the Almagestum novum were drawn by a fellow Jesuit educator named Francesco Grimaldi, SJ. The nomenclature was based on a subdivision of the visible lunar surface into octants that were numbered in Roman style from I to VIII. Octant I referenced the northwest section and subsequent octants proceeded clockwise in alignment with compass directions. Thus Octant VI was to the south and included Clavius and Tycho Craters.

The Latin nomenclature had 2 components: the first denominated the broad features of terrae (lands) and maria (seas) and the second denominated the craters. Riccioli authored lunar toponyms derived from the names of various conditions, including climactic ones, whose causes were historically attributed to the Moon. Thus there were the seas of crises ("Mare Crisium"), serenity ("Mare Serenitatis"), and fertility ("Mare Fecunditatis"). There were also the seas of rain ("Mare Imbrium"), clouds ("Mare Nubium"), and cold ("Mare Frigoris"). The topographical features between the maria were comparably denominated, but were opposite the toponyms of the maria. Thus there were the lands of sterility ("Terra Sterilitatis"), heat ("Terra Caloris"), and life ("Terra Vitae"). However, these names for the highland regions were supplanted on later cartographs (maps). See List of features on the Moon#Terra for a complete list.

Samples of lunar maps in the Selenetopographische Fragmente by Johann Hieronymus Schröter.

Many of the craters were denominated topically pursuant to the octant in which they were located. Craters in Octants I, II, and III were primarily denominated based on names from ancient Greece, such as Plato, Atlas, and Archimedes. Toward the middle in Octants IV, V, and VI craters were denominated based on names from the ancient Roman Empire, such as Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Taruntius. Toward the southern half of the lunar cartograph (map) craters were denominated in honor of scholars, writers, and philosophers of medieval Europe and Arabic regions. The outer extremes of Octants V, VI, and VII, and all of Octant VIII were denominated in honor of contemporaries of Giambattista Riccioli. Features of Octant VIII were also denominated in honor of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. These persons were "banished" to it far from the "ancients", as a gesture to the Catholic Church. Many craters around the Mare Nectaris were denominated in honor of Catholic saints pursuant to the nomenclature of Van Langren. All of them were, however, connected in some mode with astronomy. Later cartographs (maps) removed the "St." from their toponyms.

The lunar nomenclature of Giambattista Riccioli was widely used after the publication of his Almagestum Novum, and many of its toponyms are presently used. The system was scientifically inclusive and was considered eloquent and poetic in style, and therefore it appealed widely to his contemporaries. It was also readily extensible with new toponyms for additional features. Thus it replaced the nomenclature of Van Langren and Hevelius.

Later astronomers and lunar cartographers augmented the nomenclature with additional toponyms. The most notable among these contributors was Johann H. Schröter, who published a very detailed cartograph (map) of the Moon in 1791 titled the Selenotopografisches Fragmenten. Schröter's adoption of Riccioli's nomenclature perpetuated it as the universally standard lunar nomenclature. A vote of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1935 established the lunar nomenclature of Riccioli, which included 600 lunar toponyms, as universally official and doctrinal.

The IAU later expanded and updated the lunar nomenclature in the 1960s, but new toponyms were limited to toponyms honoring deceased scientists. After Soviet spacecraft photographed the far side of the Moon, many of the newly discovered features were denominated in honor of Soviet scientists and engineers. The IAU assigned all subsequent new lunar toponyms. Some craters were denominated in honor of space explorers.

The Moon obviously lacks any sea level. The USGS's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), an instrument on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), employs a digital elevation model (DEM) that uses the lunar reference radius of 1,737.4 km (1,079.6 mi).[9]

Map of the Moon from the Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas (1881) by Richard Andree

The following is a list of historically-notable lunar maps and atlases, arranged in chronological order by publication date.

• Michel van Langren, engraved map, 1645.
• Johannes Hevelius, Selenographia, 1647.
• Giovanni Riccioli and Francesco Grimaldi, Almagestum novum, 1651.
• Giovanni Domenico Cassini, engraved map, 1679 (reprinted in 1787).
• Tobias Mayer, engraved map, 1749, published in 1775.
• Johann Hieronymus Schröter, Selenotopografisches Fragmenten, 1st volume 1791, 2nd volume 1802.
• John Russell, engraved images, 1805.
• Wilhelm Lohrmann, Topographie der sichtbaren Mondoberflaeche, Leipzig, 1824.
• Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler, Mappa Selenographica totam Lunae hemisphaeram visibilem complectens, Berlin, 1834-36.
• Edmund Neison, The Moon, London, 1876.
• Julius Schmidt, Charte der Gebirge des Mondes, Berlin, 1878.
• Thomas Gwyn Elger, The Moon, London, 1895.
• Johann Krieger, Mond-Atlas, 1898. Two additional volumes were published posthumously in 1912 by the Vienna Academy of Sciences.
• Walter Goodacre, Map of the Moon, London, 1910.
• Mary A. Blagg and Karl Müller, Named Lunar Formations, 2 volumes, London, 1935.
• Philipp Fauth, Unser Mond, Bremen, 1936.
• Hugh P. Wilkins, 300-inch Moon map, 1951.
• Gerard Kuiper et al., Photographic Lunar Atlas, Chicago, 1960.
• Ewen A. Whitaker et al., Rectified Lunar Atlas, Tucson, 1963.
• Hermann Fauth and Philipp Fauth (posthumously), Mondatlas, 1964.
• Gerard Kuiper et al., System of Lunar Craters, 1966.
• Yu I. Efremov et al., Atlas Obratnoi Storony Luny, Moscow, 1967–1975.
• NASA, Lunar Topographic Orthophotomaps, 1978.
• Antonín Rükl, Atlas of the Moon, 2004.

• Gravitation of the Moon
• Geology of the Moon
• Google Moon
• Lunar mare
• Planetary nomenclature
• Planetary science
• Selenographic coordinates
• List of maria on the Moon
• List of craters on the Moon
• List of features on the Moon
• List of mountains on the Moon
• List of valleys on the Moon

• Scott L. Montgomery (1999). The Moon and Western Imagination. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-1711-8.
• Ewen A. Whitaker (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62248-4.
• William P. Sheehan; Thomas A. Dobbins (2001). Epic Moon: A history of lunar exploration in the age of the telescope. Willmann-Bell.

Look up selenography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature (1982), Leif E. Andersson and Ewen A. Whitaker
• The Galileo Project: The Moon
• Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide
• Lunar control networks (USGS)
• The Rise And Fall of Lunar Observing, Kevin S. Jung
• Consolidated Lunar Atlas
• Virtual exhibition about the topography of the Moon on the digital library of Paris Observatory