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Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |
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Preface for 1:1M Lunar Maps See Also: Index Map for 1:1M Lunar Maps |
There are many excellent maps and atlases of the Moon in print and online. They each have specific objectives; some were created particularly for lunar observers, some feature a specific type of imagery, some concentrate on global coverage or a particular region of the Moon, and others have focused on nomenclature. However, none of these sources show a complete and current picture of lunar nomenclature. In order to verify the location of a particular named feature, many atlases and sources sometimes need to be consulted. This process is cumbersome and time consuming at best, and impossible for those who do not have all of the necessary sources available. This set of maps has two main purposes: the first is to bring together the wealth of information found in many different sources into a single source, which shows the locations of all the named features on the Moon, and the second purpose is to keep this source current so users have access to the most recent changes in lunar nomenclature. Since these maps are in digital format, they are widely accessible, can be readily updated, can be viewed at various scales, and segments can be extracted as needed.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the internationally recognized authority for assigning nomenclature to planetary surface features. This set of maps is based on the information contained in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature , which is a dynamic listing of IAU-approved planetary surface feature names. The Astrogeology Team of the U.S. Geological Survey maintains the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature; this work is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
At the time of this writing, there are 8,962 IAU-approved names in use on the Moon. These names are of various feature types: catenae, craters, dorsa, fossae, lacus, landing site names, maria, montes, oceanus, paludes, planitiae, promontoria, rimae, rupes, lettered craters (called "satellite features" in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature), sinus, and valles. These 1:1 million-scale maps show only names that have been formally approved by the IAU and are currently in use. The lettered crater names included in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, and therefore in this atlas, are only those found in the definitive source "NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature" (NASA Reference Publication 1097). Over the decades, many informal names have been used on the Moon and some IAU-approved names have been officially changed. Informal names and names that have been replaced are not shown. Cross references between these old and new names have been noted in the "origin" field of the gazetteer. This is not a complete record of cross references, only those discovered during the research for these maps. Since this atlas is a digital product, it is easily changed and will be kept up-to-date. As new names are approved by the IAU, they will immediately be added to the maps. If a name is dropped, it will be removed, and if a feature is renamed, the new name will replace the old name. Whenever there is a change to the lunar portion of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, that change will be shown on the corresponding map, and a revision date will be added to the map. Changes to the gazetteer listings are recorded in the "News" section on the title page of the gazetteer. The IAU name approval process is also described in the gazetteer.
Great effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of name placement. The location of each name was examined, often in multiple sources, before inclusion. The locations of some feature names are questionable because the names either were not shown in the sources, or there is conflicting information in the sources. These questionable cases were presented to lunar nomenclature expert Ewen Whitaker, who determined the naming scheme for the lunar far side lettered craters. Ewen was able to provide a definitive answer in most instances. For the remaining few questionable features, educated guesses were made based on information in the sources, and coordinate and size information in the database.
The locations of the following lettered craters were verified with Ewen Whitaker. The locations differ from what is shown in some printed atlases and on various maps, but Ewen's location information is given precedence.
Placement of names on the maps follows USGS cartographic standards. Names are placed inside craters if they fit comfortably within the feature. If a name does not fit inside the feature, the next preferable location is used: just outside the feature and to the right of it. If a pre-existing name or another feature precludes this positioning, the name is placed elsewhere outside the feature in a readable spot. For every name that is placed outside of a crater, a dot is placed in the center of the crater so there is no question which crater the name is associated with. For non-crater features, names are placed alongside or on the features to show their locations and extents. Some craters are too small to be seen on the imagery; in these cases, a note has been added indicating a larger-scale map that shows the feature. Most of these large scale maps are part of the NASA Lunar Topophotomap and Topographic Orthophotomap (LTO) series.
In other publications that include lettered craters, the 'parent' portion of the name has been omitted because of limited space. For instance, Abenezra A is portrayed as just 'A.' Different methods have been used over the years to show which parent crater the satellite crater belongs with. On some maps, letters are placed on the side of the satellite crater that is closest to the parent crater, and at least one atlas uses font size to differentiate these features. These methods help the reader to associate the lettered crater with the correct parent crater, but it is not always clear. The situation is especially unclear in regions of the Moon where there are many of these lettered crater features, or when the parent crater is located on a different quadrangle than the satellite crater. For this set of maps, the full name of each lettered crater has been used in every case. For instance, the name 'Abenezra A' will be shown next to the feature, not just 'A,' so there is no question about which parent crater the satellite crater belongs with. Satellite crater names are shown in upper and lower case letters; all other crater names are shown in upper case letters.
Font color was chosen for readability only, and font size was chosen to adequately portray the names in crowded areas. The user should not expect to be able to see all of the names on a map by viewing at screen size or printing at page size. Since these maps are digital products, the intention is for the user to change magnification to examine the named features in an area of interest. The maps can be printed at page scale, or document scale, which varies by map but is usually about 30 inches by 30 inches.
Some IAU-approved names have alternate spellings shown in parentheses (see the list of lunar crater names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature). The preferred spellings have been used on these maps.
The Lunar Aeronautical Charts (LAC) are some of the most widely used maps produced of the Moon. The LAC series breaks the Moon into 144 quadrangles (36 Mercator, 106 Lambert Conformal, and 2 Polar Stereographic quadrangles). The LAC chart format was chosen for this set of maps for the following reasons: the LAC charts were widely distributed and used, many lunar researchers are familiar with the format, they are now available on-line at the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s web site, and the relatively small surface area covered by each quadrangle provides a file size that is easily downloaded by most Internet users and at the same time provides enough detail to portray the nomenclature.
The imagery currently used for the base for these maps is the USGS color-coded shaded relief, controlled to the Clementine Lunar Control Network (CLCN) (Davies, et al., 1994; Edwards et al., 1996). Details about how this image base was created can be obtained by reading the Notes on Base for the USGS Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. Note that some distortion of the shaded relief base was introduced when it was warped to the CLCN; this distortion is not evident in the 1:10 million-scale hemisphere maps, but it is pronounced in some areas at 1:1 million-scale. The CLCN (and therefore the Clementine mosaic and related products, including the base images used for these maps) was later found to have large horizontal errors, on average of about 7 km, and in some areas perhaps as great as 20 km. Those errors have (we believe) been largely corrected with the Unified Lunar Control Network (ULCN) 2005 (Archinal et al., 2006), on which the Lunar Orbiter global mosaic will be based (Becker et al., 2005). The current base, controlled to the CLCN, will hopefully be replaced with this higher resolution Lunar Orbiter mosaic, controlled to the UCLN 2005, when it becomes available. More information about lunar control networks and the Lunar Orbiter Digitization Project can be found at the USGS Astrogeology page.
Special thanks go to Ewen Whitaker, who graciously and promptly consulted his extensive archives to answer complicated questions about the locations of named features. Deborah Soltesz and Ryan Raub of the USGS, and Brian Peck (formerly of the USGS) are responsible for the design and function of the web pages. Bonnie Redding, also of the USGS, provided image processing and cartographic skills. The members of the IAU’s Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature and its Task Groups have worked since the early 1970s to provide a clear system of planetary nomenclature that represents cultures from all regions of Earth. This work was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, through the Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program, via Contract No. W 10,185.
Please send comments or corrections regarding these maps, or planetary nomenclature in general, to Jennifer Blue at jblue@usgs.gov.
Andersson, L.E., and E.A. Whitaker, NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature, NASA Reference Publication 1097, October 1982.
Whitaker, E.A., Mapping and Naming the Moon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999.
Bussey, B. and P.D. Spudis, The Clementine Atlas of the Moon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004.
Gutschewski, G.L., D.C. Kinsler, and E. Whitaker, Atlas and Gazetteer of the Near Side of the Moon, NASA SP-241, Washington, D.C., 1971.
Rükl, A., Astronomy Atlas of the Moon, Kalmback Books, Wisconsin, 1990.
Whitaker, E.A., G.P. Kuiper, W.K. Hartmann, and L.H. Spreadley, Rectified Lunar Atlas, Supplement Number Two to the USAF Lunar Atlas.
Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Maps of the Lunar Hemispheres, 1:10,000,000, USGS I-2769, 2002, http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/i-map/i2769/.
Lunar Astronautical Chart (LAC) Series, 1:1,000,000, Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, Washington, D.C., 1962-1967.
Lunar Earthside, Farside, and Polar Charts (LMP-1, LMP-2, and LMP-3), 1:5,000,000, Astronautical Chart and Information Center, Washington, D.C., 1970.
Lunar Equatorial Zone Mosaics (Earthside, Farside, Western Limb, Eastern Limb), 1:2,500,000, Department of Defense, 1969.
Lunar Map (LM) Series, 1:1,000,000, Defense Mapping Agency, St. Louis, 1976-1978.
Lunar Planning Charts (LOC-1, LOC-2, LOC-3, LOC-4), 1:2,750,000, Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, Washington, D.C., 1971.
Lunar Topographic Orthophoto Map (LTO) Series, 1:250,000, Defense Mapping Agency, Washington, D.C., 1970s.
Lunar Topophoto Map Series, 1:50,000, Defense Mapping Agency, Washington, D.C., 1970s.
Map Showing Relief and Surface Markings of the Lunar Far Side, 1:5,000,000, USGS I-1218-A, 1980.
Map Showing Relief and Surface Markings of the Lunar Polar Regions, 1:5,000,000, USGS I-1326-B, 1981.
Shaded Relief and Surface Markings of the Lunar Near Side, 1:5,000,000. USGS I-2276, 1992.
Archinal, B.A., M.R. Rosiek, R.L. Kirk, and B.L. Redding, 2006, The Unified Lunar Control Network 2005, USGS Open File Report 2006-1367, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1367/.
Arthur, D.W., et al., The System of Lunar Craters, Quadrant 1, Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Vol. 2, Number 30, 1963.
Arthur, D.W., et al., The System of Lunar Craters, Quadrant 2, Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Vol. 3, Number 40, 1964.
Arthur, D.W., et al., The System of Lunar Craters, Quadrant 3, Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Vol. 3, Number 50, 1965.
Arthur, D.W., et al., The System of Lunar Craters, Quadrant 4, Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Vol. 5, Number 70, 1966.
Becker, T., L. Weller, L. Gaddis, D. Soltesz, D. Cook, B. Archinal, A. Bennett, T. McDaniel, B. Redding, and J. Richie, 2005, Lunar Orbiter Revived: Update On Final Stages of Scanning, Archiving, and Cartographic Processing at USGS, LPS #1836, abstract for Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI (2005), http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1836.pdf.
Davies, M.E., T.R. Colvin, D.L. Meyer, and S. Nelson, 1994, The unified lunar control network: 1994 version, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 99, No. E11, pages 23,211-23,214. November 25.
Edwards, K.E., T.R. Colvin, T.L. Becker, D. Cook, M.E. Davies, T.C. Duxbury, E.M. Eliason, E.M. Lee, A.S. McEwen, H. Morgan, M.S. Robinson, and T. Sorensen, 1996, "Global Digital Mapping of the Moon," Lunar Planet. Sci., XXVII: Houston, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 335.
See Also: Index Map for 1:1M Lunar Maps
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