The Catalog of Planetary Maps.
Sources: The research that led to this catalog was supported by Fulbright Hungary Grant No. 1222202, awarded to H. Hargitai for research at USGS Astrogeology, Flagstaff, Arizona (advisor: Trent Hare), and by the ICA Commission on Planetary Cartography (advisor: Kira Shingareva). Most of the data is based on the inventory of the map library of USGS Astrogeology.
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Photos: Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are by H. Hargitai. Several photographs are from the USGS Astrogeology Map Library and Lowell Observatory, both in Flagstaff, Arizona. Several photographs of Soviet maps were taken at MIIGAiK, Moscow.
Contact: The catalog is curated by H. Hargitai, ELTE, Budapest, hargitai.henrik@btk.elte.hu.
Exhibiting the same view of the Moon’s surface as plate the first
Moon — map
Plate the 2nd
Exhibiting the same view of the Moon’s surface as plate the first.
The first plate presents the Moon with the rays of the Sun falling perpendicularly upon it, and is therefore a real representation of the full Moon in a state of mean libration.
This second plate represents the same view of the Moon as to libration, but with the rays of the Sun falling obliquely upon it. This view therefore, though true of every part of the Moon as such part successively approaches to the edge of illumination, is at no time, and from the spherical figure of the Moon cannot be, true of the whole Moon at once.
From this simple variation in the illumination of the Moon, the lunar surface apparently undergoes an almost total change. The elevated spots, from the obliquity of the Sun’s rays, project broad shadows, and their forms in consequence become clearly defined. Many spots not to be discerned in the full Moon appear, whilst others entirely disappear; the remarkable luminous points and rays so numerous in the full Moon under this oblique illumination are not visible.
Much important investigation, independent of the utility of the plates during lunar eclipses, will arise from a careful comparison of the lunar planispheres.