The moon : $b a full description and map of its principal physical featuresElger, Thomas Gwyn
Science
The moon : $b a full description and map of its principal physical features
Elger, Thomas Gwyn
Moon
It is well seen under a high light, as indeed is the case
with most of these features.
CRATERLETS, CRATER-PITS.--To a great extent the former term is needless
and misleading, as the so-called craters merge by imperceptible
gradations into very minute objects, as small as half a mile in diameter,
and most probably, if we could more accurately estimate their size, still
less. The crater-pit, however, has well-marked peculiarities which
distinguish it from all other types, such as the absence of a
distinguishable rim and extreme shallowness. They appear to be most
numerous on the high-level plains and plateaus in the south-western
quadrant, and may be counted by hundreds under good atmospheric
conditions on the outer slopes of Walter, Clavius, and other large
enclosures. In these positions they are often so closely aggregated that,
as Nasmyth remarks, they remind one of an accumulation of froth. Even in
an 8 1/2 inch reflector I have frequently seen the outer slope of the
large ring-plain on the north-western side of Vendelinus, so perforated
with these objects that it resembled pumice or vesicular lava, many of
the little holes being evidently not circular, but square shaped and very
irregular. The interior of Stadius and the region outside abounds in
these minute features, but the well-known crater-row between this
formation and Copernicus seems rather to consist of a number of
inosculating crater-cones, as they stand very evidently on a raised bank
of some altitude.
MOUNTAIN RANGES, ISOLATED MOUNTAINS, &c.--The more massive and extended
mountain ranges of the moon are found in the northern hemisphere, and
(what is significant) in that portion of it which exhibits few
indications of other superficial disturbances. The most prominently
developed systems, the _Alps_, the _Caucasus_, and the _Apennines_,
forming a mighty western rampart to the Mare Imbrium and giving it all
the appearance of a vast walled plain, present few points of resemblance
to any terrestrial chain. The former include many hundred peaks, among
which, Mont Blanc rises to a height of 12,000 feet, and a second, some
distance west of Plato, to nearly as great an altitude; while others,
ranging from 5000 to 8000 feet, are common. They extend in a south-west
direction from Plato to the Caucasus, terminating somewhat abruptly, a
little west of the central meridian, in about N. lat. 42 deg. One of the
most interesting features associated with this range is the so-called
great Alpine valley, which cuts through it west of Plato. The _Caucasus_
consist of a massive wedge-shaped mountain land, projecting southwards,
and partially dividing the Mare Imbrium from the Mare Serenitatis, both
of which they flank. Though without peaks so lofty as those pertaining to
the Alps, there is one, immediately east of the ring-plain Calippus,
which, towering to 19,000 feet, surpasses any of which the latter system
can boast. The _Apennines_, however, are by far the most magnificent
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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