Astronomy for Amateurs

John Stuart Mill · en
To-day we know that these "seas" are destitute of water, and that if the
lunar globe possesses an atmosphere, it must be excessively light.

The Moon became the favorite object of astronomers, and the numerous
observations made of it authorized the delineation of very interesting
selenographic charts. In order to find one's way among the seas, plains,
and mountains that make up the lunar territory, it was necessary to name
them. The seas were the first to be baptized, in accordance with their
reputed astrological influences. Accordingly, we find on the Moon, the
Sea of Fecundity, the Lake of Death, the Sea of Humors, the Ocean of
Tempests, the Sea of Tranquillity, the Marsh of Mists, the Lake of
Dreams, the Sea of Putrefaction, the Peninsula of Reverie, the Sea of
Rains, etc.

With regard to the luminous parts and the mountains, it was at first
proposed to call them after the most illustrious astronomers, but the
fear of giving offense acted as a check on Hevelius and Riccioli,
authors of the first lunar maps (1647, 1651), and they judged it more
prudent to transfer the names of the terrestrial mountains to the Moon.
The Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, are all to be
found up there; then, as the vocabulary of the mountains was not
adequate, the scientists reasserted their rights, and we meet in the
Moon, Aristotle, Plato, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton,
as well as other more modern and even contemporaneous celebrities.

We have not space to reproduce the general chart of the Moon (that
published by the author measures not less than a meter, with the
nomenclature); but the figure subjoined gives a summary sufficient for
the limits of this little book. Here are the names of the principal
lunar mountains, with the numbers corresponding to them upon the map.

[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Map of the Moon.

(From Fowler's "Telescopic Astronomy.")

           1 Furnerius
           2 Petavius
           3 Langrenus
           4 Macrobius
           5 Cleomedes
           6 Endymion
           7 Altas
           8 Hercules
           9 Romer
          10 Posidonius
          11 Fracastorius
          12 Theophilus
          13 Piccolomini
          14 Albategnius
          15 Hipparchus
          16 Manilius
          17 Eudoxus
          18 Aristotle
          19 Cassini
          20 Aristillus
          21 Plato
          22 Archimedes
          23 Eratosthenes
          24 Copernicus
          25 Ptolemy
          26 Alphonsus
          27 Arzachel
          28 Walter
          29 Clavius
          30 Tycho
          31 Bullialdus
          32 Schiller
          33 Schickard
          34 Gassendi
          35 Kepler
          36 Grimaldi
          37 Aristarchus