June 17, 2008

Hundred Year Old Hevel

image by Chuck Wood of diary at Lunar & Planetary Institute, Houston

A very busy night with another proposal due tomorrow, so re-enjoy an earlier LPOD masterpiece!

With our multi-hundred dollar eyepieces, goto telescopes, electronic cameras and clever software we see and record the Moon better than ever before. Oh yeah? Compare the top left drawing of Hevel (the name before latinization gentrified it to Hevelius), made in 1896 by one Capt. Molesworth, with your own observations. Have you seen the crossing rilles on the crater floor? The very best telescopic image ever of Hevelius confirms the Capt's discovery and does show some additional rilles. We should not ignore the work of old time observers. Some had excellent telescopes, sharp eyes and good drafting skills. What we do have now that they didn't is a good understanding of the geologic processes that made the lunar landscapes we study. Today's LPOD is another page from the 1890s lunar diary of Walter Goodacre.

Chuck Wood

Related Links
Rükl plate 28

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Yesterday's LPOD: A Lunar Process

Tomorrow's LPOD: Wrinkle Tales

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