Intro
Prehistory
Ancient
1600s
1700s
1800s
1900-1960
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
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1824: WG Lohrmann: Topographie der sichtbaren Mondoberfläcke - First of a series of books explaining a cartographic approach to Moon mapping; his giant map was drafted but not completed before his death in 1840.
1834: JF Bersenberg: Die Sternschnuppen
... Stein und die Mondvulkanen - An unknown astronomy book, including a section about the Moon.
1837: W Beer & JH Madler: Der Mond - The most important Moon book of the 19th century - accurately charted the surface and determined that the Moon had neither water nor air.
1840: JW Draper: First photograph of the Moon, taken using a 12" telescope and a 20 minute (!) exposure. Within 10 years WC Bond and others at Harvard College Observatory were taking much better photos with only 1 minute exposures. For nit pickers: LJM Daguerre actually took the first photo of the Moon in 1839, but no details were discernible!
1846: JD Dana: "On the volcanoes of the Moon" American Journal of Science 2, New Haven.
1846: M Rozet: "Sur la Selenologie" Comptes Rendus22, p. 470. This generally overlooked paper appears to have included many correct observations and inferences about the Moon judging by quotes in Dana's 1846 paper. Rozet believed that the Moon formed from a completely molten state (like the current magma ocean view), which slowly cooled, forming giant volcanoes. He stated the the Earth probably had a similar ancient history. Rozet, perhaps following Beer and Madler (1837) stated that there was no water on the Moon, and thus no fluvial erosion. Rozet also observed that the lunar craters do not resemble common terrestrial volcanoes - tall stratocones such as Etna and Vesuvius. Perhaps his most modern comment was that the large circular maria were identical in character to the somewhat smaller lunar craters, thus all were part of a sequence.
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1856: JFJu Schmidt: Der Mond - Ein Ueberblick - A book by one of the best observers of the 19th century, but it seems to have had little effect on his contemporaries or successors. Why? |
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1874: J Nasmyth & J Carpenter:
The
Moon Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite -
Careful comparison of the Moon and the Earth, using beautiful (but
exaggerated) plaster models of lunar craters. A most collectible book
even if the volcanic theories were all wrong! In early 1998 a copy
was offered for $650, which seems excessive!
1876: E Neison: The Moon - An Englishman's rendition of the classic Beer and Mädler work, augmented with his own excellent observations; the model for subsequent British books of the same name.
1876: Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (1841-1906) Investigation of lunar phenomena undertaken at Harvard College Observatory in 1871, published in Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College, VIII, 50-53. This short report (now online) to the Observatory's director appears to be Shaler's first published comments about the Moon. Although he believed his observations supported a volcanic origin for craters, he made many other perceptive and correct inferences such as noting that the Rook Mountains on the west limb of the Moon marked the rim a giant farside crater several hundred miles across - a pre-discovery of the Orientale basin!
1878: WG Lohrmann: Mondcharte in 25 Sectionen, Lipzig - A well drafted chart of the Moon by the Dresden surveyor, but edited and published decades after the work was done by Lohrmann's admirer Schmidt. The first chart so detailed that it was divided into 25 sections.
1878: JFJ Schmidt: Die Charte der Gebirge des Mondes, Berlin - Probably the most accurate map of the Moon until Kuiper's 1960 photo atlas replaced hand drawn maps. Click on the title to see a digital copy of the entire 25 sheet map!
1886: RA Proctor: The Moon - Her Motions, Aspects, Scenery, and Physical Condition (Third Edition) - A popular but serious book for the layman. $52 in 1998.
1893: Grove Karl Gilbert (1843-1918): "The Moon's face, a study of the origin of its features". Philosophical Society of Washington Bulletin 12. One of the most important papers (because it was right!) ever published, but it was nearly completely overlooked until the 1960s. Golbert recognized that lunar craters were of impact origin and that the circular maria were within giant craters.
1894: Brockhaus: Ubersichtskarte des Mondes.. A common German chart at the end of the century.
1895: TG Elger: The Moon - Terse crater descriptions and a charming map of the Moon in a classic book.
1895:Ph. Fauth: Atlas von 25 Topographischen Spezialkarten des Mondes. Fauth's most detailed maps, published in a special collection.
1896: ES Holden: (Lick) Observatory Atlas of the Moon. Edward Holden, the Director of the Lick Observatory began a project to provide superior images of the Moon to observatories around the world. In October, 1891 the first sheet was mailed out; I do not know if the projected 60 sheet atlas was completed.
1896-1910: MM Loewy & MP Puiseux: Atlas Photographique de la Lune, Paris. A large format, but grainy collection of halftones, apparently made almost no significant contribution to improved understanding of the Moon. Many smaller versions were published through the next two decades.
1897: W Goodacre: The Moon - Observations, Notes and Sketches. A previously unknown personal journal kept by the Director of the Lunar Section of the British Astronomical Association. Contains drawings contributed by various members of the section.
1899: L Weinek: Photographischer Mond-Atlas- A derivative publication of over-enlarged negatives from the Lick and Paris Moon atlases and other negatives from those observatories.
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